Predestination of Pretorious
by Turrican23X
Summary: Metal Mastermind sequel. With the aid of his cynical, technically unborn, daughter, Silver has to traverse history in pursuit of a villainous raccoon with a diabolical agenda. Special appearances by Sonic, Tikal, Black Doom and more.
1. The Man From Tomorrow

**Chapter 0: The Man From Tomorrow**

My name is Dr. Trevor Pretorious. I am a scientist. That is the simple truth. I am no madman - I do not seek to harm others. I merely have a greater understanding of the nature of reality than most, and that is why I am given such hurtful labels by lesser men. The quest for understanding cannot be set aside for such trivial concerns as individual lives. If only more people would appreciate my side to things, it wouldn't be necessary to have to kill those who insist beyond all common sense to stand between me and my objectives. 

I am an animaloid. A raccoon to be specific. I was born in the later days of the twenty-third century. My family had established a considerable fortune by the time I was born, and allowed me to attend the finest schools available. I am truly blessed to have been given the opportunity to grow up in such enlightened times. Or so I thought. Wealth, knowledge and power should be enough to fund the means to answering the great mysteries of the universe. Alas, the truth is time and time again obstructed by deluded fools who believe that the end does not justify the means. And yet they call ME insane? ALL means are justified, if the end is worthy enough, and I would never choose a lesser goal. 

What choice did I have? It was never my desire to become a criminal. If the rigid laws of society would only recognise a visionary and allow him freedom to uncover answers that would bring betterment to all mankind, then I would have remained lawful for the rest of my life. It was a tragedy, but as I began my many years spent in isolation I was still comforted by the knowledge that history will recognise me for my true worth and condemn those who've shunned me. 

Do not feel pity for me. My resentment towards my peers quickly subsided once I confined myself in secret places and began my work in earnest. To let my passion grow without judgement or control by short-sighted fools was a wonderful experience. If I could've completed my work alone in my underground laboratory, then I would have. But resources do run dry eventually. I suppose I must have been quite the worrying sight when I reemerged after all those years. Aheeheehee... 

How many people did I kill that time? Four? Five? I take full responsibility, as it was my error. I should have taken the time to calibrate the cloaking device for a new environment, but I was overexcited, and wanted to see other people again. The mistake cost me my tail. It was very unpleasant, but in hindsight, it was a valuable experience. What right should I have to dispose of those misguided fools who step in my way if I could not understand and appreciate the sensation of pain? 

It was after that little exodus that I became hunted. Society had forgotten about me. Can you believe it? Forgotten about Trevor Pretorious, that young prodigy who gained so much praise and carried the hopes of so many. Unbelievable. That the world should be reminded of my existence only through my guise as a vile killer was more painful than the loss of that worthless appendage. I should be admired, not reviled. Something had to be done. 

And so I reinvented myself. I broadcasted myself from the safety of my lair as Dr. Pretorious, the evil criminal mastermind. They should know my face. They should remember me, even if it was a false proclamation of my identity. No matter. Future history would know the truth, and for the present, the appearance as a villain would serve me well. I gained valuable contacts in the criminal underworld, greatly speeding up a number of projects that I feared I would have to put on hold until I could redeem myself. Unfortunately, as Dr. Pretorious, I also became acquainted with my nemesis. 

As an animaloid myself, I have the right to be disgusted at their kind. Single-minded, unimaginative, driven with so much energy towards...what? Physical achievements that die out after a single lifetime, and worthless moral victories. "Heroes" is, I suspect, the apt term, and I say the word with complete revulsion. They all desire to be like that ignorant blue hedgehog who saved the world far too many times for his own good. Wasters! One particular animaloid in my present age decided that she should become an unrelenting thorn in my side. I will not include her name in these memoirs. History should not need be reminded of such an embarrasing self-professed champion. I can only hope she is no longer a threat to me or the quest for knowledge by the time these records are released to the public. 

One of the projects that I succesfully completed with the help of my new rugged friends was a portable time portal. I admit that the original designs were not mine. The last university I attended kept a volume of schematics collected from the abandoned laboratories of that great but sadly discredited scientist Dr. Eggman Nega. I cannot imagine that the editor of the book had any idea of the power that lay in those pages, but their carelessness was my gain. Like a petty thief, I stole the book and brought it with me when I went into seclusion. 

Tomorrow, I will leave this present and journey back in time. I understand and appreciate the risk of perverting history, but unlike the weak-willed cowards who've held me back all my life, I will weigh the risk accurately and accept it. 

Mutations of the flow of time have happened many times since the first time machine was invented, hundreds of years ago, but the documentation of the effects is embarrasingly lacking. For the first experiment, I will capture my nemesis, when she predictably arrives to foil my plans, and then we will both take a trip back in time to murder her father before he and my nemesis's mother have a chance to concieve a child. It will be fascinating to record the results. 

The gift of time travel is that everything can be undone. Nevertheless, I shall take extra precaution in making sure to correctly program and calibrate the anti-displacement field generator. As volatile as time permutation is, I would be a right idiot to run the risk of accidentally erasing myself from history. After all, Silver the Hedgehog is a prominent figure. His death may require a cancellation, if the present suffers too much damage as a consequence, but I will not know until the experiment is over. 

Doctor Trevor K. Pretorious.

_In the first chapter:  
- Silver finds to his dismay that he'll still have to take a backseat to the villain of the story for huge chapters at a time. After seeing the bad guy get an entire prologue, he decides to renegotiate his contract. None of this happens on-page.  
- Blaze is shocked to find that she's barely in this fic, while Shadow isn't even on the cast list.  
- The author cries out for help, as he's struggling to come up with a name for Silver's orange-furred pyro-kinetic daughter._


	2. Critical Pursuit

**Chapter 1: Critical Pursuit**

The orange cat chased the perpetrator across the rooftops of Central City. During such a cold night in mid-winter, you'd expect the girl to freeze her rear off in that thin two-piece red catsuit, but unlike her target, the cat's breath wasn't even visible in this unnatural cold for this part of the country. The next clue that there was more than met the eye about the girl was her hair. That thick overgrown red hair on her head should be thrown back and streaming out behind her from the wind and speed, but instead it lay normally around her shoulders like she was standing still in a closed-off room. 

The perp was a hedgehog. Not a supernaturally gifted one like the legend himself, but certainly faster and more acrobatic than the average animaloid. He jumped twenty metres across the street to the next rooftop, and kept running after a graceful landing. The cat paused for a second at the roof's edge, then flung herself forward. As expected, she wouldn't make the jump, but somehow all she had to do was place her hands downwards, and she was propelled forward by a burst of flames against empty air. 

Her name was Pia. Just Pia, she would tell you. Unlikely as it was that she'd give away her last name to a stranger, it was even less likely that she'd tell you what she did for a living. Maybe if you were enough of a sleuth to find out what she was saying as she flew through the air and landed on the next roof... 

"Yes, this is Agent Pia. I'm chasing one of Dr. Pretorious's goons through the East side of the city. I think we just passed Rose Avenue. No, just stay there with the rest of the suspects. I'm hoping this lowlife will lead me to Pretorious's lair. What? Yeah. Thanks, Agent Shadow. I'll call you if I need backup." 

The Guardian Units of Earth had expanded their operations since the days of Eggman Nega. Pia was an agent of the newest and perhaps most important branch of the global military. Special Agent Shadow the Hedgehog wasn't part of any specific group within GUE, but was frequently called in as an expert in cases that might require his unique skills. When Pretorious was involved, Shadow was usually called in right away. There were too many times when GUE forces had been caught unaware by the insane scientist's creations, and the current Commander was tired of making excuses to the media as to why the villain kept getting away. 

Pia suddenly found she'd lost sight of her target. That would've been incredibly frustrating after chasing him for half an hour, but fortunately the trap set earlier this evening had been sprung. The sophisticated piece of hardware that Pretorious's underlings were trying to steal from Prower University had been coated with nanotech tracking bugs. Pia pressed an invisible button a few inches above her wrist, and looked at the miniature holographic map that appeared before her eyes. Ah, right there. 

The cat ran to the left and deliberately let herself drop down the narrow gap between buildings. The hard concrete ground below came closer at killing speed...then passed overhead as she dropped through the remarkably life-like hologram. Halfway down the narrow tunnel, Pia answered a call from her gut and stuck her arms and legs out fast. Her hands only seemed to be covered in fur and little else, so by all reason the act should have seared her flesh off from intense friction burns, but instead Pia could slow her fall by pressing what increasingly becoming clear to be some kind of invisible outer layer of very resiliant clothing against the wall. 

At the bottom, Pia swung around the edge of the hole in the ceiling she emerged from and landed away from the charged floor panel that would've electrocuted anyone that Pretorious's permiteter scanners identified as an intruder - provided they survived the deadly drop in the first place. Pia momentarily wondered how a legitimate minion got through this bit, then remembered the doctor's habit for thinking ten to twenty steps ahead in any game. One thing she could be sure of was that if she'd touched that panel, her Jumpsuit wouldn't be enough to protect her. 

Pia pressed another invisible button on her wrist, which caused her whole body to turn as invisible as the suit she wore on top of her catsuit. The training period for use of a Jumpsuit was six months, and you weren't allowed within a mile of the amazing inventions unless you passed every test with the dummy model. All 150 functions, and way too many pages of precautions, had to be memorised. Those six months were as tormenting to Pia as any other potential recruit to the secret branch of GUE, because since the cat's memory could only be described as "uncanny", she had to spend the majority of the time sitting through endless lessons on things she'd already memorised the first time. 

With the light-scope set to max, Pia passed the entrance to Dr Pretorious's secret lair. She had to avoid a ridiculous number of sensor beams and pressure pads to make any progress at all through the hallway carved out of the very rock that Central City was built upon. It wasn't that Pretorious was paranoid, he just really enjoyed making his enemies jump throug hoops. Cloaking device or not, he was probably watching and recording every move Pia made. Her main concern right now was just in taking the criminal hedgehog unaware. 

No such luck... 

The first room beyond the crude corridor was a beautifully-furnished hallway that eerily resembled something from a nineteenth-century mansion owned by a mogul who went for showing off in a big way. Pia couldn't take her eyes off the umbrella stand for a few seconds, before she got her bearings again. There hadn't been this many robberies over the last couple of years, so clearly Dr. Pretorious was rich enough to be eccentric, rather than just plain insane...Why was that carpet covered in blood? 

Pia followed the blood trail into the kitchen area. She found the hedgehog she'd been chasing right away. Unfortunately, something else had found him first and literally butchered the poor guy. He was lying in a pool of his own blood and guts in front of the open fridge. Was that a sandwich in his hand? It must've taken him completely by surprise. The counter, the shelves, they all looked like antiques. Okay, so Pretorious would be mad at the guy for giving away the location of his base, but would he really mess up his home like this just for an example? 

Unless...unless he wasn't expecting to come back. Pia felt a cold sweat. It was now more likely than ever that she'd walked into a trap. What was it going to be? Explosives rigged to the place? Flooding from the sewer lines? Or something far more diabolical that only a twisted brain like Pretorious's could've thought up. 

"Hello!" a familiar voice suddenly sang out. 

Pia looked up to see an old-fasioned speaker in the corner of the ceiling. The quality of the sound coming through it was terrible. 

"Pia the Hedgehog," said Dr. Pretorious. "You should know first of all that this is a recording. Yes, you are that predictable, my dear nemesis. I've already taken my departure from this point in time. Yes, I'm afraid the fears of your father were accurate, I've built a time machine, and it works like a charm. How fortunate that you're a member of the Temporal Protectorate branch of the Guardian Units of Earth, with your very own self-contained time travel Jumpsuit. All you've got to do is look through my lovely home and discover the clues as to where in time I've gone. But be warned! Absent-minded as I am, I may have accidentally left a certain robot running around the place. I call it the Cleaver. It's a horrid machine - don't know why I built it, frankly. Not like it's got any productive functions. All it really does is hunt people and chop them up! Aheeheeheeheeee!! Well, time's a-wastin', Pia. See you later. Earlier, perhaps." 

Pia narrowed her eyes. How in the hell did that dastard find out about her name? And...why were the hairs in the back of her neck standing up? 

The Cleaver swung it's scythe-like blade at neck height...

_In the next chapter:  
- We leave this cliffhanger unresolved.  
- A bit of catching up on how the main cast from Metal Mastermind are doing.  
- Dr. Pretorious makes his first on-page appearance._


	3. Old Faces

**Chapter 2: Old Faces**

"Now!" Blaze shouted. 

On cue, Silver jumped out from behind the bullethole-ridden wall with a literal shower of projectiles floating in the air above him. The gigantic robot that'd been preparing to stomp down on the purple cat recieved the very same armour-piercing bullets it'd fired at Silver a minute earlier into its torso. Staggering back with its circuits exposed, the robot tried to activate its self-repair functions, but it was no use. Blaze seized the opportunity and shot straight through the machine, spinning like a drill wrapped in flames. 

Watching the whole show unfold outside his desert base, Dr. Eggman Nega pulled on his massive mustache in frustration. How in the world did those two pests know about his hidden base inside this old pyramid? The Echidna Preservation Society and the Recent History Archeological Society were supposed to have this place barred from intruders on pain of very expensive legal ramifications! Couldn't you even count on bureaucrats to cover your trail these days? 

Nega turned away from the depressing sight presented by his surveilance system. There was only one thing to do. "Metal Sonic!" the white-haired old villain yelled to the only other occupant of the base's command room. 

"What is your wish, master?" the submissive robot asked. 

"Keep the intruders busy while I use my Time Portal to escape. Whatever happens, don't let the cat and the hedgehog get near the prototype test laboratory." 

"Yes, master." 

Meanwhile, Silver and Blaze made short work of the N-series robots guarding the entrance hall to Eggman Nega's base. The mass-produced minions didn't stand a chance against the formidable pair. 

"So much for making a silent entrance," said Silver. 

"Don't worry, I just got a message from Shadow," said Blaze reassuringly. "He and Terkal have teleported down from the Ark. They'll make sure to intercept Nega before he can escape." 

Silver chuckled. "Any glitches this time?" he asked, remembering what had happened when he and Blaze used the very same teleporter. 

"He didn't say, but I think-" 

Blaze stopped when she saw the sillouette in the doorway ahead. 

"Hey, it's Nega Metal. I don't suppose you remember me? Silver? Well, I mean from last week, not from that whole mess on Onyx Island in the past, when-ugh!" 

The robot didn't have patience for idle chit-chat. It attacked Silver right away, oblivious as to the fact that in another time it had been instrumental in saving the whole universe from the malevolent Metal Mastermind. For much the same reason, Silver was hesitatant to fight the robot with full intent. Odd as it was for a machine with a sub-standard AI that offered no sense of self-awareness, Silver felt he owed Nega Metal something. 

Blaze, meanwhile, was less obligated to Nega's Metal Sonic, and quickly got fed up with Silver's evasion game, storming forward and kicking Nega Metal through the ancient wall. Silver grimaced as he watched his once-servant get buried under a pile of rubble. 

"Was that really necessary?" he asked. 

"Frankly, yes. Now come on, Silver. If there's no great big hole in the floor of the command room, then we don't know which way leads from there to the lab with the Time Portal. We can't waste time and risk Eggman Nega eluding Shadow and Terkal." 

"Fine..." said Silver grimly, picking up the pace again. 

- 

Conquest the Bat ignored the general's repeated insistance that it was foolish to base an operation of this scale on intelligence that couldn't be verified in any way. Conquest was well aware that the pudgy old idiot had been gunning for her position for years, and she was even starting to miss the brief period of time when the general had been dead, and her hands had been untied properly for once. She quickly set aside that longing, of course, remembering the pain and terror that whole adventure had carried her through. 

Still...the now-classified Metal Sonic case had finally brought Shadow back into her life, and she couldn't be happier about that. Much harder than defeating a time-devouring robot was going to be the task of crackin Shadow's rough exterior and getting the guy to open up for once, but Conquest was up to the challenge. Eager, even. 

Conquest sighed. Why was the general even bothering to undermine her on this one? Shadow, Terkal, Silver and Blaze should be able to handle Eggman Nega's arrest by themselves, without needing the GUE troops holding the perimeter around the pyramid base. Oh, right. The blowhard was annoyed that she was going to get the credit on this one. Well, tough cookies, you old bag of wind. 

"Your concerns are valid, general," Conquest said aloud. "I will take them into consideration." 

- 

The lights were off in Silver's apartment, but the motion-sensitive switch lit up the lounge when the tall raccoon suddenly appeared in the middle of the floor. 

To a stranger, Trevor Pretorious, couldn't possibly be recognised a maniacal villainous fiend. He looked simply charming. Whether it was the navy-blue Gentleman's suit with matching top hat and stylish cane, or that warm smile on his face - it was hard to tell what made him seem such an appealing person. He was unusually tall for a wiry, non-crodillian animaloid - nearly equal height to an average human. 

Dr. Pretorious was in fact a textbook psychopath, with all the remarkable people skills and abysmal lack of empathy that the condition implied. 

The intruder across time looked around the apartment with child-like interest. 

"Fascinating!" he said to himself. "Silver the Hedgehog's old Central City apartment. Not home, I see. How inconvenient. No chance to have a pleasant chat while we wait for the fiery daughter to make a rude intrusion. Oh, dear. What if she arrives first? I brought a pulse pistol, because those void pellets can't be affected by psycho-kinesis, but dear Pia would be certainly recognise a weapon from her own time. What to do? What to do?" 

Pretorious stopped his pacing around, and laughed. "Silly me! Why wait when one can simply step ahead in time and greet the hero's return? This was the day when Silver captured Eggman Nega properly for the first time. He'll escape from jail next week, but it's the gesture that counts. Our hero is no party lion, so he'll be home early from the celebration party at GUE HQ. Now...how did one set the hours on this little doohickey?" 

Dr. Pretorious disappeared in a flash of green light, then reappeared on the same spot. Between his departure and return, the shadows raced across the floor and darkness set in as the sun completed its sprint to dusk. 

The apartment was also no longer empty. Silver sprang out of his couch, and instinctively wrapped himself in the glow of psycho-kinetic activity. 

"W-where'd you come from? Who are you?" Silver demanded to know. 

The raccoon grinned. Silver, social refugee that he was, didn't focus on the clothes or the face right away but on those creepy glassy eyes behind thin glasses. 

"I am Doctor Trevor Pretorious," said the raccoon, bowing politely. "You'll come to know me very well, captain. Or, maybe not. It really depends on the outcome of this meeting." 

"What?" 

Suddenly violent arcs of purple energy formed out of empty air and connected to the walls and nearby furniture. The electrical display became a humanoid shape, and disappeared as suddenly as it'd started, leaving an orange and red cat standing in its place. 

"Isn't that an unnecessarily attention-seeking way to time travel, Silver?" Dr. Pretorious asked, suddenly holding a very strange looking tool in his hand and pointing it right at the white hedgehog. "At least Eggman Nega had the decency to go for function over fashion with his time machine design. Look, it's a wrist watch. His fifth generation version, which he sadly lacked the time to complete before his untimely death. Oh, I'm sorry. Am I spoiling too much, captain Silver? I do tend to go on. It's a silly habit of mine." 

"SHUT! UP!" the cat commanded in a tone of voice that sounded eerily familiar to Silver. 

Now Silver noticed that the cat's red outfit had tears in several places, as if she'd been juggling knives or something. Strange that there was barely a scratch on her fur, well, apart from those streaks of white fur on her arms, just like Blaz- 

"Watch that tone, young lady," said Dr. Pretorious. "I might get startled and accidentally apply pressure to this little button under my index finger here. You wouldn't want something to happen to the captain of the Temporal Protectorate, would you? Oops, another spoiler. Where can I put my head? Aheeheehee! Well, since we're all getting acquainted, why don't you tell the captain- I mean Silver the Hedgehog, here, your name?" 

Now she too was holding something. Her gadget looked more like a weapon. She certainly held it like one. Silver kept quiet, confused beyond measure. 

"Pia," said the cat, moving only her yellow eyes towards Silver for a fraction of a second. 

"Come now, I should think a meeting this special would call for a little formality. Her name is Pia the Hedgehog. Yes, I know what you're thinking, Silver. Hedgehog? Why, surely she's a cat! Let's review the family history. I'm not entirely certain if we're after of before the point in time when you learn this, Silver, but you are the direct descended of Sonic the Hedgehog. Isn't that remarkable? Your grandfather knew this, and therefore had his name legally changed to 'The Hedgehog', thus circumventing the long-lasting animaloid tradition of just abscent-mindely picking the name of the animal as a surname. And gosh, wouldn't you know it, when your daughter, Silver, is not a hedgehog at all, but a cat, there do actually arise some legal complications with the name. Ridiculous, I know, but it happened. This seventeen year-old cat won't have the legal power to properly disown her given family name for another year. Hence, Pia the Hedgehog. Amusing when you think about it, really." 

"I told you to shut up, Pretorious!" Pia said through gritted teeth. Her cat canines were particularly intimidating. 

"Sorry. No more dawdling," said Dr. Pretorious, then shot Silver at point blank range.

_In the next chapter:  
- You'd better hope there's not yet another unresolved cliffhanger.  
- Dr Pretorious sets up the main plot.  
- The second grand adventure beings in earnest._


	4. Caught In the Loop

**Chapter 3: Caught In the Loop**

The Cleaver swung it's scythe-like blade at neck height...releasing a shower of sparks from around Pia's neck and throwing her off balance. The Jumpsuit's circuits were damaged from the impact, causing the cloaking field to shimmer with glimpses of clear vision, revealing a lightweight grey armour of sorts. Pia quickly rolled out of the way of the next attack from the Cleaver, at the same time making sure to push the button to deactivate the cloaking field. It didn't fool the machine, so she might as well be able to see her arms and legs herself, rather than relying on her training in low-vision combat. 

Dr. Pretorious's guard dog was a deceptively simple-looking machine. It was just a low metal box atop a set of padded wheels, with numerous robotic limbs sticking out, each one adorned with a razor-sharp blade at the tip. It shouldn't be able to move that fast, or be sophisticated enough to scan through a cloaking field, but taking advantage of the erroneous assumptions of his enemies was always Pretorious's style. Pia wasn't about to underestimate the machine now. 

Pia the natural born pyro-kinetic dodged the Cleaver's blades and fought back by conjuring up some nasty fireballs, which she shot into the bulk of the robot with bullet speed. The Cleaver got bumped back against the wall, with nearly all of its limbs melted off. Pia strode forward to deliver the finishing blow, when suddenly the final remaining limb lashed out like a snake, revealing itself to be completely independent of the obvious joints built into its shape. The metal whip curled around Pia's right leg painfully tight and pulled her forward, causing her to fall on her butt and get dragged across the floor. When she was close enough, the metal box of the Cleaver brought out a trio of previously unseen blades, each one tied to free-moving tubes of SmartAlloy metal, just like one that caught the cat unaware and tied up her leg. 

The blades were flung downwards toward the captive feline animaloid, and she was only barely able to avoid getting cut, by trying to wriggle out of the way of the edges. Still, her Jumpsuit took a lot of cuts. Right now she was too busy trying to concentrate for a second so she could burn her way free to worry about whether or not her Jumpsuit would still function after this. One blade caught close enough to Pia's shoulder to cut through the semi-invisible suit and the red outfit underneath, and pin the fabric to the floor, keeping the cat in place. The other two blades found their chance to strike the sitting duck...but before they could could connect, a torn-off blade edge was thrown from across the room, cutting Pia loose from the Cleaver, right before a powerful glowing force lifted the whole robot up and smashed it against the wall repeatedly until the vile machine stopped moving. 

Pia spun around. "D-dad?" she said, her eyes wide. 

Shorter, younger, no mustache, and all his spikes intact. This wasn't the Silver she knew. Huh. No pants either. When did her dad ever walk around bare-bodied like the guys he'd always warned her not to date? 

"Don't ask too many questions right now," said the teenaged Silver with a clear urgency in his lighter-than-normal voice. "It's really important that what happens next goes the same way it did the first time. Just follow me!" 

What choice was there? Pia followed Silver back into the main hallway and down a flight of polished wooden stairs. The hand-crafted mahogany door at the bottom was kicked open, revealing Dr. Pretorious's private office. The incredibly anal organisation of the paperwork and decorative pieces was unmistakeable. It was just like the old castle the villain inhabited last year before he made his amazing escape without a trace just before GUE stormed the place. 

"I need to make certain of something," said Silver, immediatelly heading for the paperwork on the desk. "If that wild goose chase was really all about...yes! Of course!" 

Pia strained to see what Silver was reading, but he threw the paper away before she had a chance. 

"I'm really sorry about what has to happen after you take me with you back to my own time, but I can't tell you the outcome in case doing so changes things for the worse. Truth is, Pia, I don't know if I'll survive or not, but just trust me. I've got a plan." 

Pia kept quiet, confused beyond measure. 

Silver walked over to his daughter, who was presently three years older than him, and put his hands on her shoulders. 

"You said that the other me told you this, so here goes: When what has to happen has happened, you must promise to go after Pretorious right away. Oh, and it's not your fault. Remember that." 

"What? What are you talking about?" 

"Heh. That must be what I sounded like when this whole confusing adventure started. Don't worry. It will all make sense when you get to the point where I am right now. Trust me." 

- 

That was then... This is now. 

"I told you to shut up, Pretorious!" Pia said through gritted teeth. Her cat canines were particularly intimidating. 

"Sorry. No more dawdling," said Dr. Pretorious, then shot Silver at point blank range. 

Silver the Hedgehog, the one that only minutes earlier had thrown himself on his couch after narrowly managing to get away from the victory celebration at GUE HQ, saw himself clutch his blood chest and drop to the floor. 

"No!" Pia shouted, moved as if to rush towards the mortally wounded hedgehog, but then instead ran at Dr. Pretorious. 

There were two identical Silver the Hedgehogs in that room at the same time. One had been hiding behind the curtains next to where Pia had appeared through that blinding display of temporal energy, and had thrown himself in front of the other Silver when Dr. Pretorious fired. 

His mind numb from confusion and horror, the surviving white hedgehog let his instincts take over, and crossed the space towards the overdressed villain with a Teleport Dash. Only Dr. Pretorious reacted faster, pressing the two buttons on either side of his wrist watch. Pia, Silver and Pretorious collided with each other at exactly the right moment for the cat and the hedgehog to get pulled into the vortex of time as the evil raccoon made his emergency exit. 

Afterwards, all that was left was an immobile Silver lying in a pool of his own blood. 

- 

This was then... 

"If you think I'm so naive that I'm going to take you with me back in time just because you kind of look like my father, then you've got another thing coming, kid," said Pia, prodding the self-claimed Silver in the chest. 

Silver sighed. "Okay, fine. I really didn't want to do this, but you, I mean the other you, did say to mention a certain something to convince you that I'm who I say I am." 

The look on Pia's face when she heard what Silver said was one of greater horror than she'd displayed during the her fight with the Cleaver. 

"Alright, I believe you. Never ever repeat that to me or anyone else ever again, got it?" 

"Wouldn't dream of it. I kind of wish you hadn't told me about it in the first place." 

"So you know where Dr. Pretorious went, right? Where am I supposed to take you with me to?" 

"Where it all began. My apartment at 9.03 PM, August 24th, in the year-" 

- 

Absolutely fascinating, Dr. Pretorious wrote. My hypothesis was incorrect. My nemesis was not erased from existence after the death of her father. Even more intriguing, the Silver the Hedgehog that I attempted to ensure the demise of was rescued by none other than himself. Was the second version of the hedgehog one who'd lived long enough to concieve a child, thus saving my nemesis, or do the rules of time allow for an effect to continue to exist once its cause is removed? 

More research will certainly be necessary to find an answer to this conundrum, but for now my efforts remain tied to my original plan. Since my nemesis is now alive, and joined by the earlier version of her father that I attempted to kill, I will have to review my approach carefully before proceeding with the second phase. 

The rules of predestination bother me. The second Silver, whom I shall refer to as Silver B, arrived at the exact moment to prevent the first one, whom I shall refer to as Silver A, from suffering a premature death. Can the existence of Silver B imply that my original plan will fail? I must discover the exact point at which Silver A becomes Silver B, thus closing the time loop. Once Silver A is removed, I expect to see a proper closure to this unexpected deviation from history, and an answer to the question of why my nemesis still exists. 

(Note to Self: Review schematics of Eggman Nega's Portable Time Portal. The safety function that ensured that the two who intruded on my path through time arrived a safe distance apart from my own exit point has now been confirmed to be working to satisfaction. I must modify the machine later on to prevent the possibility of multiple travellers against my will.) 

So far I have not found any reason to believe that my presence at this point in time has been detected by any authority in the present. Nevertheless, I will not attempt a second jump forward to reach a more useful location and time of day. I shall spend the night in this jungle hideaway and make contact with the residents of Angel Island in the morning. My nemesis will most likely follow the regulations of her organisation and avoid contact with individuals from the past at all costs. That error of judgement on her part will work to my benefit. 

Doctor Trevor K. Pretorious.

_In the next chapter:  
- Silver and Pia get their bearings, having no idea where or when they've arrived.  
- Dr. Pretorious wastes no time making sure a certain group of echidnas live up to the reputation of gullibility.  
- First in a series of multi-chapter episodes in noteworth points of Sonic world history as the chase begins._


	5. Where Angels Tread part one

**Chapter 4: Where Angels Tread (Part One)**

March 14th, 2110 AD. Marble Garden, capital of Angel Island. Just after dawn. 

At the beginning of the new millennia, the echidna species had been brought back from the brink of extinction thanks to the efforts of a middle-aged Miles Prower. One hundred and seventeen albino echidnas were cloned from the DNA of Silk the Echidna, the daughter of the famous heroes Knuckles the Echidna and Rouge the Bat. At first, the majority of the echidnas were raised by surrogate parents on Angel Island, and as they grew up were taught the secrets of their heritage by the then-elderly Knuckles. Because Silk's echidna DNA had been deliberately tampered with to prevent the clones from suffering the effects of inbreeding, the individual echidnas grew up to become more different in character than would've been the case if they were all true siblings. Already by the second generation, many echidnas abandoned their predetermined role as guardians of Angel Island and the Master Emerald. Nevertheless, more than enough remained behind to secure the continuation of their species's vigilance over the treasure entrusted to them. 

By this point in time, a strong society had grown on Angel Island. The ruined city of Marble Garden was rebuilt, as was the Emerald Altar situated at the heart of the floating island. Out of respect to their ancestors, the society of white and pink-furred echidnas (the latent genes of the father were starting to re-emerge by that time, but it would be a great many generations before a true red echidna could be born), had followed the design style of the ancient architects closely. From outside, Marble Garden now looked as it did thousands of years ago when the survivors of the Chaos catastrophe built their new settlements on the newly-created floating island. Inside the buildings were plenty of modern fixtures and furniture, however. 

It was around this decade that the guardians of the Master Emerald began referring to themselves as "Angel Echidnas", to seperate themselves from those echidnas who'd shunned their role in the world and moved away from Angel Island. 

The reason why Dr. Pretorious chose this time first in his villainous scheduele would become clear later this very day. One needed only leaf through the history books of the mad scientist's own time to know what was going to happen. His scheme hadn't included the possible presence of Pia and Silver, but it didn't take Pretorious long at all to realise that their beng here could only work to his advantage. 

- 

Silver watched the ocean waves miles below the cliff edge where he stood. This was either Angel Island, or an unusually tropical mountain top. Sitting on some rocks behind was the girl who apparently was his daughter from the future. Immediatelly after they'd arrived here, she started fiddling with her clothes for some reason. When she said "Damn, it's no use. I've got to take it off," Silver's face turned red and he made a conscious decision to focus on the scenery instead. 

He was still confused about the whole scene back home. The shock when that lunatic fired his weapon must've messed with his head, because Silver could swear he saw himself get shot, like he was having an out-of-body experience and watching the whole thing. He'd been so out of it right then that he could only barely remember that he'd charged into that guy who called himself Dr. Pretorious. What happened after that? How did he wind up here? 

There was nothing for it. He was going to have to talk to her. 

"Um...Pia?" said Silver cautiously, turning towards the girl very slowly in case she was undressed or something. 

Pia waved a hand dismissively without looking away from the odd-looking metallic suit she had stretched out on a flat rock. "I have to check how damaged my Jumpsuit is. Just wait a minute, d- Silver." 

Where did that weird costume come from? She wasn't wearing anything other than that fetcing red two-piece catsuit when she first showed up, and she wasn't wearing anything less right now. As if to correct what the white hedgehog was thinking, Pia suddenly tore the sleeves off her top, and started measuring out strips of cloth. 

"Standard Protectorate uniform," she started saying as if she could tell what he was thinking. "Embedded micro-circuitry in the fabric. Useful for patching up the Jumpsuit." 

Silver didn't understand what she meant, but he was impressed with what he saw. Those little strips of red changed colour and melded with the malleable surface of what she called a Jumpsuit. The capital J was noticable in the way she talked about it. 

Pia sighed. "I knew it. The invasive activation caused by the field generated by Pretorious's time portal messed up the interface. Can't just patch over that. I'll have to reconfigure everything from scratch." 

She bit her lip and swore under her breath. For some reason Silver felt compelled to scold her. He resisted the urge, rather wisely. "What does that mean?" he said. 

Pia stood up and turned towards him. "It means that we're stuck here for the moment. It'll take me at least a couple of hours to get my Jumpsuit working. Until then that means no cloaking, no scanner, no translator, and definitely no time travel. We could be anywhere - any_when_, and we probably won't know what kind of damage to history we're in danger of making here until we've done it. Meanwhile, Dr. Pretorious is on the loose, and you can bet your arse that he won't hesitate to screw up the past if it helps him reach whatever insane objective he's got this time." 

"You mean...you've got time machines that small in the future? And that Pretorious guy has one too?" 

"No, his is a special design. He claims it was made from blueprints written by Dr. Eggman Nega. It's the size of a watch, apparently. All we know for sure is that it can't be traced from the present. Since my Jumpsuit got accidentally activated when Pretorious jumped back to this time, we can take it for granted that no one else from the organisation I work for know we're here." 

Silver started pacing around. "What organisation?" he said. "No, wait. First you tell me who Pretorious is and why the heck he tried to kill me?" 

Pia frowned. It was clear that she was debating with herself what to tell and what to keep secret. "Let's just say he's a nut-job with a serious ego problem," she said. "As for why...it was probably to get at me. I've messed up quite a few of his plans over the years. Even Shadow hasn't gotten as close to him as me..." 

"Shadow?" 

"Wait, forget I said that." 

Silver didn't know why he was surprised. Shadow the Hedgehog could probably live forever. The guy was already over two hundred, and still looked as young as the day he was created. 

"There's still something I don't understand," Silver began. 

Pia answered with a humourless laugh. "I'm sure there is. There's a lot I'd like to know myself, but let's face it: We're here, and we've got a responsibility. Both of us. I'm the only one who can fix my Jumpsuit so we can get back to the future after we capture Pretorious. That'll take hours, and meanwhile he's running around out there somewhere. Can't take the risk of him doing whatever he's here to do and getting away while we're sitting around here, so..." 

"What? You want me to go into the jungle and look for him?" 

"Not really, no, but it's not like there's any other choice right now. Just avoid drawing attention to yourself, and if you see any natives, stay away no matter what!" 

Silver nodded. 

- 

Dr. Pretorious raised his hands disarmingly. "Gentlemen, gentlemen, there's no need for violence, I assure you," he said to the echidna guards surrounding him. 

The security of the Angel Echidnas was most impressive. They truly lived up to their name as guardians of the island. Pretorious had thought he could sneak closer to the city than this before catching the attention of anyone, and he was delighted to see how wrong he was. 

"You have no business being here, raccoon," said the leader of the guards, raising his fist threateningly. 

"Oh, but I do! I come bringing a message of the outmost importance. You must allow me to pass through before the vile criminals succeed in their plan of stealing the Master Emerald." 

"What!? Explain yourself now or I'll pound you until there's nothing left!" the somewhat unimaginitive echidna shouted. 

"Certainly. The leaders of the outlaws are an orange cat and a white hedgehog. If those two are caught and killed, then their many many hidden underlings throughout Angel Island will never succeed with their evil plan." 

Pretorious's face simply glowed with honest intentions, but the guard leader was too hard-headed to be easily fooled. 

"Pachem, Inuk, take him to the chief. He'll know what to do." 

-

_In the next chapter:  
- Silver faces the rather improved perils and traps of Angel Island.  
- Dr. Pretorious works the big-wigs.  
- Pia does some pretty tedius work._


	6. Where Angels Tread part two

**Chapter 5: Where Angels Tread (Part Two)**

Knuckles the gullible echidna. How many times was he tricked by the villain Dr. Eggman? Certainly often enough for his name to become synonymous with habitual dim-wittedness. The Angel Echidnas would never admit any of the failings of their predecessor, however, since Knuckles has been the subject of some rather misguided hero worship on Angel Island ever since his death. Nevertheless, as stubborn to admit the gullibility of their hero as they are, the Angel Echidnas have still learned from it. If I did not have my knowledge of history at my disposal, I suspect I would not have been able to convince Chief Ernak the Echidna that I could be trusted. Aheeheehee. If the Chief's second in command had not been so well informed of current events around the world through television, I suspect even my knowledge would not have saved me. 

It cost me two hours of valuable time, but by the end of it, I'd succeeded in getting the echidnas to send out patrols to hunt down and kill my enemies. Unfortunately, managing to convince the Chief to allow me access to the Master Emerald shrine would be far more taxing. I fear I shall have to simply sit and wait until the Chaos Anomaly occurs. In the pandemonium surrounding the event, I should be able to make my way to the shrine before the window of opportunity closes. 

(Note to self: Find a spot out in the open before 6:30 PM. The satellite photographs taken after the disaster showed numerous destroyed buildings. High risk of injury indoors or too close to the walls.) 

Doctor Trevor K. Pretorious.

- 

The lake situated beneath Red Mountain was formed by water flowing from Angel Island's famous glacier. Twin rivers ran from the lake towards the South edge of the floating island, where it flowed as a massive waterfall past the jungle border until it met the outmost edge of the island itself and cascaded down to the ocean below. 

Silver wasn't aware that the thick jungle he was making his way through had been burnt down just over a hundred years earlier. Fact of the matter was that the presence of the Master Emerald did more than just keep the island afloat. Few places on Earth were as vibrant with life. Right now Silver could've settled for a lot less vegetation, as the undergrowth he had to force his way through was so thick he could barely see a meter ahead of him. 

Unaware that he was walking along the same path Sonic had when he first arrived on Angel Island, Silver found himself standing at the bottom of a gigantic waterfall. He'd always wondered where the expression "sparkling waterfall" came from, and now he knew. Neat. The rock platforms that Sonic had used to scale the cliff were gone now. The new generation of echidnas had absolutely no intention of giving opportunities to potential intruders. If you couldn't climb bare rock as easily and naturally as an echidna, then you weren't supposed to be here. 

Near the pool of water at the base of the waterfall, a familiar teal symbol appeared and started to glow. It was the same symbol that could be seen on Silver's gloves, and it meant that the tiny computer in the left glove of the hedgehog from the future had calculated the best point to attempt one of his most useful tricks. Moments later, a series of large boulders erupted from the bottom of the pool and levitated up into the air, one after the other, with just enough increased height between each to form a set of stairs. Silver jumped to the first step, and continued upwards. It didn't matter that there weren't enough steps to reach the top. All Silver had to do was take the bottom step and move it to the top. As long as he repeated that action, he'd never run out of stairs. All of this took a great toll on his mental stamina, but Silver was certain he'd make it. He'd practiced his powers for enough years now to learn his limitations, so although this was the highest climb he'd attempted yet, he was sure he could push himself just that tiny bit further and make it fine. 

When a metal spear suddenly shot out from a weapon situated behind the falling water and missed Silver by inches, things got a bit more complicated. 

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, as he quickly dropped the boulders apart from the one he was standing on in order to grab the next spear before it impaled him. 

The top was so close now. He'd have to chance it. 

Silver let his levitation carry him straight up while at the same time diverting enough power to catch and throw aside the metal spears that kept being shot at him. It was such a strain that he almost felt like his head was going to explode before he reached safe ground. 

Finally, Silver couldn't hang on any longer. His levitation power faded, and he dropped like a rock. Fortunately, he'd just barely made it over the top, and landed on a polished rock at the edge of where the river ran straight down. 

Exhausted, Silver took a few steps forward on the wet ground, then put his weight where there was nothing but thin branches and leaves to support it. The hedgehog harnessed the very last drop of psycho-kinetic power to throw himself aside before he fell into the pit lined with sharp spikes. 

Yes, DEFINITELY Angel Island, because everyone knew that Angel Echidnas were paranoid beyond all reason when it came to their homeland. 

"You've gotta be kidding me!" he exclaimed to the unfair world as a whole, when less than a minute after the last near-death incident, he heard rapid movement coming from the nearby jungle vegetation. 

- 

The red Chaos Emerald glittered in the sunlight. The Emerald was floating gently through space just barely within the escape velocity of Earth. How it wound up there was anyone's guess. Maybe some renegade scientists were studying the Emerald onboard an orbiting station, and then somehow lost it out of an open airlock - or perhaps it had simply reformed here after the last time all seven Emeralds were brought together and harnessed. Whatever the reason, it was going to play an integral part in an unprecedented disaster on Angel Island. 

If Pia had known what date and time she and Silver had arrived at, she would've told him to forget about trying to avoid notice and just focus on finding Pretorious and getting the heck off the island as quickly as possible. 

In fact, the time travelling agent, may yet get her Jumpsuit operational in time... 

"January thirty-second?" Pia read aloud. "Give me a break." 

Maybe not. 

- 

Dr. Pretorious lay on a flat chair with his coat off and his hat pushed down over his eyes, relaxing in the beautiful weather. Once in a while he reached into his vest and pulled out an old-fashioned pocket watch. Modifying the little gadget to auto-adjust to timezones across history had been a fun distraction, because for all that Nega's time machine could do, it remained a lousy means to tell time. 

"Like waiting for a kettle to boil," he said to himself. "Or maybe a child during the night before Christmas. Anticipation always stretches out the hours. sigh" 

Should he get back to his notes? No, nothing worth writing down just yet. After the disaster, there'd be plenty of data to collect, but for now there was nothing. The fantastic properties of Angel Island had already been recorded in too many scientific journals to count. No, the next pages of his journal should be reserved wholly for the Chaos Anomaly. Hmmm. In the meantime, he should think up a better name for the event. 

- 

"Um...hey! Look, I can explain everything!" Silver said to the angry-looking Angel Echidnas closing in on him. 

Actually, he couldn't explain anything. Didn't matter, because the guards weren't in any mood to listen. The hedgehog would've put up a much better fight if he hadn't been so tired out already, but it probably still wouldn't have been enough against these guys. Even trying to run wouldn't have worked. They were too cunning when it came to the hunt. While Silver's attention had been focused on the sound coming from the trees, three other echidnas had glided in silently and dropped down around him, blocking off any possibility of escape. 

Some help he was. Just three hours or so since Pia sent him to intercept the time-travelling villain, and he'd already failed on every count. Forget trying to avoid changing history - right now Silver was mainly concerned with getting out of this mess alive. At least the echidna guards merely tied him up instead of killing him on the spot. They probably weren't leading him anywhere good, though. 

- 

_In the next chapter:  
- Dr. Pretorious reveals his intentions in this time period as the Chaos Anomaly begins.  
- Destruction and pandemonium breaks out all over the place.  
- Silver has zero likelihood of defeating the villain this early in the story, but good luck to him._


	7. Where Angels Tread part three

**Chapter 6: Where Angels Tread (Last Part)**

Ernak had become Chieftain and leader of the Angel Echidna tribe for a reason, and it wasn't the fact that he could arm-wrestle anyone on the island into submission. Brute strength would only have gotten him through one-third of the Test of Leadership - no, Ernak's main forte was his brains. The only way to truly pass the Test was to outwit all the other candidates, and he'd done so with exceptional cunning. 

That was the reason why Ernak had lied to the slimy raccoon about ordering his men to hunt down and kill the hedgehog and cat like the self-claimed GUN agent Pretorious had insisted. It didn't matter that Ernak's own son had confirmed that Pretorious knew all the correct agent ID codes that had been sent to the echidnas when that GUN emissary attempted to set up communications between the Angel Echidnas and the military a few years back. Ernak had a gut feeling about the raccoon, and it told him not to trust a word he said. The real order the Chieftain gave was for the hedgehog and the cat to be captured and brought to him unharmed. Ernak wanted answers. 

And so Silver the Hedgehog found himself on his knees inside the central temple at the heart of the main citadel of Marble Garden. It hadn't really been his choice of pose, but when a pair of mighty spiked fist pushes you down, you stay down. Sitting in the obvious seat of power before him was an ecidna who, judging by the amount of gold jewely was probably the leader. For a moment Silver was sure he'd arrived thousands of years in the past, but then he noticed the only slightly outdated row of computer terminals off to the corner of the lavishly decorated chamber. Okay, so they weren't that far in the past after all. 

"There is a reason why I should not have you put to death, hedgehog," said Chief Ernak. "Please tell me what that reason is." 

From the guy's penetrating gaze, Silver got the idea that this wasn't someone he should try lying to. According to Blaze, Silver's eyes twitched a lot when he consciously lied. She was probably right about that. This was definitely not the time to find out. 

"My name is Silver the Hedgehog. I work for GUE," said Silver. "Me and my, er, partner travelled here in pursuit of a criminal called Dr. Pretorious. We don't know why he's here or what he's after, but whatever it is, it can't be good. We really didn't mean to disturb you or your people in any way, your Higness. Um...could I ask just one quick question?" 

"Go ahead," said the Chief, whose poker-face was one for the record books. 

"What year is this?" Silver knew it was the wrong question to ask even as he said it, but he couldn't help himself. 

Ernak looked to his advisor, who shrugged. "The year is twenty-one ten. Fourteenth of March. If I were the suspicious type, which I am, young hedgehog, I might believe you delivered a very crude insult towards our fair society. But look at you! Timid, afraid of what fate lies in store for you. You don't look the type for bravado, so the more likely reason for your question must be that you really don't know. How very strange." 

"I'm sorry, your Highness," said Silver. Why did that date sound familiar? Familiar and ominous. Something happened today, didn't it? Something very bad. 

"Throw him in a cell," Ernak commanded to the guards surrounding Silver. To his second-in-command and sole heir, he added "We can get to the bottom with this one later. I'd like to hear what the raccoon has to say about all of this right now." 

"That sounds wise, father," said the obedient son while the white hedgehog was dragged away. 

"You keep up to date. What is the meaning of this 'gee-you-ee' he mentioned?" 

Ernak's son thought about it. "Well," he finally said, "I think that's the new acronym that the president of the Reunited Nations suggested for GUN if they ever manage to get the rest of the disagreeing countries to hand over their military forces to the united global army. 'Guardian Units of Earth' is what she suggested. With the Neo Soviet stance remaining what it is, I doubt it'll ever happen, father." 

"How very strange. I have no doubt that our visitors are delusional madmen, but which one of them is telling the truth." 

"We could just save time and throw them both in the volcano," the son suggested somewhat jokingly. 

Ernak laughed. 

- 

Dr. Pretorious watched the children play in the courtyard outside the large stone building that served as the local daycare centre, before their matron appeared and ushered the little echidnas indoors. 

Such a terrible tragedy. Most of them would certainly die during the first tremours, as the heavy stone buildings began to collapse, in about...(Pretorious checked his pocked watch again)...three minutes. A lesser man would probably have felt the knowledge as a terrible weight on his conscience, but Pretorious knew that he was merely witnessing history. Attempting to interfere would mean he was a sentimental fool with no respect for the greater matters at stake here. 

A shadow blotted out the sun. Pretorious squinted to see a group of echina guards standing over where he lay. Impeccable timing. 

"Come with us," said the apparent leader of the brutes. "Chief Ernak wants a word with you." 

Dr. Pretorious smiled. "That may well be the case," he said, "but since he's about to have a great deal more to worry about, I don't see any need to distract him." 

The ground vibrated... 

"You're coming with us whether you...ow...what? Ah..._ARGHH!!!_" 

The scientist grimaced slightly as every echidna around him started screaming out in pain, clutching their head in distress, and losing balance. "Tsk, tsk" he said under his breath, as he got up, stepped over the writhing echidna and headed towards the edge of town at a brisk pace. Those satellite photos in the history books really came in handy, especially for plotting out the safest route to the Master Emerald shrine now that the tremours were starting to really wreck the place. 

- 

The electromagnetic radiation caused by the solar flare had just reached the area of space where the red Chaos Emerald floated. Amplified and distorted by the power of the Emerald, the radiation penetrated the atmosphere, being forcibly channeled along the same wavelength that the Emeralds interacted through. When the particles of energy reached Angel Island, the Master Emerald responded by going haywire. 

The force that kept the floating island situated high above the ocean was interrupted erratically, causing the entire mass to shift just enough to set off a series of damaging quakes. For the Angel Echidnas, each one attunted naturally to the emanations of the Master Emerald, it was as if a neverending explosion of painfully loud noise filled every inch of their bodies. 

Scientists studying what would be known as the Chaos Anomaly would calculate that the odds of the event happening were inifinitely remote. If the Chaos Emerald in space had been only a few metres further away, the radiation would've missed Angel Island by miles and dissapated harmlessly. 

- 

Silver had a brief flashback to when he and Blaze were stuck inside Eggman Nega's collapsing pyramid. It was just like then. If he hadn't had his psycho-kinesis for protection, he would've been crushed to death when the massive stone ceiling of his cell came crumbling down. 

Balancing the ceiling with one thought and bending the steel bars aside with the other, Silver made his escape from the dungeons beneath the central temple. Someone like Sonic the Hedgehog would probably have raced to the exit too fast to be touched by the falling rocks. In Silver's case, the only way was to make his escape upwards, by catching the falling rocks and positioning them beneath himself to climb to the top of the building as it fell down all around him. Eventually, the hedgehog turned gray with dust and rubble saw daylight. 

Silver found himself near the top of what was left of the temple. From here he got a clear view of the devastation taking place all around Marble Garden. Those echidnas who could manage it ran for their lives, while the rest lay writhing on the ground where they'd fallen, screaming out in pain. 

"The Chaos Anomaly," Silver said to himself, feeling numb. 

Compared to exciting bits of history like when Shadow the Hedgehog defeated the Jet-Black Arms invaders, the story of the greatest natural disaster that'd ever taken place on Angel Island hadn't caught too much interest from Silver when he learned about in in school. Watching the horror unfold before his eyes, he wished he'd paid a lot more attention as a kid, and had given the tragedy the respect it deserved. 

Silver leapt off the edge of the tall building and flew as fast as he could over the dying city. Now he knew why Dr. Pretorious had come here, and what the villain was after. Silver was determined to reach the Master Emerald shrine before him. 

- 

Dr. Pretorious tapped the side of his glasses, causing the glass to turn dark enough for him to be able to stand the excessively bright glow of the Master Emerald. Odd that this particular area was free of even the slightest vibration while the rest of the island was practically breaking apart. Certainly convenient. The doctor would hate to have to worry about those huge Stonehenge-eque pillars that made up the rebuilt shrine. 

The apperance of those brutish thugs right before the Chaos Anomaly began suggested that the Chief hadn't trusted Pretorious's word after all. How disappointing. The father-daughter duo were almost certainly on their way here. Well, no point in stalling then. Time to do what he came here for. 

Dr. Pretorious reached into his pocket and pulled out a small chunk of obsidian covered in what resembled raw diamond rock. Very cautiously, he held the stone close to the surface of the Master Emerald. It was nearly impossible to see against the bright light of the Emerald, but the stone was starting to glow in a suspiciously familiar manner. Once he was satisfied that it'd absorbed enough energy, Pretorious turned away from the Master Emerald and held his precious treasure up to his shielded eyes. 

"Perfect," Pretorious said simply, before slipping the stone back into his pocket. 

A big round rock wrapped in psycho-kinetic energy appeared out of nowhere and flew into Dr. Pretorious's stomach, knocking the raccoon against the nearest stone pillar. 

"Ow!" the villain uttered once he managed to get his breath back. "Was that really necessary, Silver?" he added reproachfully as the hedgehog stepped into view. 

"You're coming with me," said Silver, who would've looked more heroic if he didn't have to cover his eyes with one hand to avoid being blinded by the Master Emerald. He wouldn't admit it right now, but it'd been pure luck that he managed to hit Pretorious with that rock. 

"I think not. In case you forgot, I've still got this nasty little gun here. You remember, the one I killed your double with? If time is truly linear, then it should be impossible for me to kill you now, but we both now that time is mutable, don't we, Silver? You changed history quite drastically when you defeated Metal Sonic. Ah, yes. Those files were de-classified shortly before you became the captain of the Temporal Protectorate. Wasn't much point in keeping it secret once that little hack-job poured half of the GUE archives into the public internet, aheeheehee!" 

"If I tell you to shut up, will it do any good?" came Pia's voice from out of nowhere. "Before you get any bright ideas, let me remind you that a Jumpsuit CAN deflect pulse blasts." 

"I'm sure it can," said Dr. Pretorious and shot Silver for the second time. 

Or not. Pia had been expecting it, and had snuck in between the two while Dr. Pretorious kept yapping. The projectile deflected harmlessly against the cat's invisible body. 

"Boy am I glad to see- Erm. Well, you know what I mean," said Silver. 

Dr. Pretorious sighed happily, then dashed behind the Master Emerald with greater speed than they'd seen from the raccoon so far. Silver reacted faster, and grabbed a rock to hurl at Pretorious with his psycho-kinesis, but was stopped by Pia, who put her now-visible hand on his shoulder. 

"If you hit the Master Emerald, we're going to see a lot worse consequences than from doctor nut-job powering up some stupid rock," she said sternly. 

"Always a good idea to listen to experience," said Dr. Pretorious, who was alread messing with his wrist-watch-shaped time travel device. "Ta-ta!" he said, and vanished from this point in time. 

"You let him get away!" Silver said resentfully. He was starting to share Pia's contempt for the villain by now. The information that his own death back at the apartment hadn't been just an illusion didn't help his frustration one bit. 

Although Pia's Jumpsuit was finally fixed and working fine, it's default state was to remain invisible on the outside of the agent's normal red uniform. It was a precaution for the sake of avoiding any extra suspicion in the past that the Jumpsuit reset to total transparency status unless specifically programmed otherwise. Silver had no idea how Pia could tell where the specific buttons were on the suit, as she went to work. 

"I didn't _let_ him get away, alright?" she said. "We've got the exact time and place he left from, which is right here. That's more than enough to start a trace from this specific point. Twenty minutes and I'll know exactly where and when he went. Trust me." 

"Fine," said Silver. "While you do that, I'm gonna head back down to the city to see what I can do to help." 

Pia looked up with an expression that couldn't have been any more critical if he'd suggested juggling chainsaws on a tightrope over a vat of sulphuric acid. "No way! You're staying put here. All this has already happened. It's history." 

"History? It's happening right now! There are kids down there, Pia! I'm not gonna go anywhere while there's people here who need my help!" 

"God, are you a complete idiot!?" the cat shouted, now red in the face. "If you go, you'll just make everything even worse!" 

"You don't know that!" Silver yelled back, and started running. 

A shower of obscene remarks followed the white hedgehog. Pia didn't chase after him, however. She wasn't about to leave the precise point where Dr. Pretorious departed from, and risk losing the trace signature. She might not always agree with her father, but she couldn't believe he'd ever been such a complete and utter moron! Fine. Let him try. She knew only too well the consequences of trying to change history for her own sake. Let him learn it the hard way. She'd just have to clean up whatever mess Silver made once Pretorious was safely behind bars where he belonged. 

The painfully bright glow of the Master Emerald started to lessen. The Chaos Anomaly would be over soon. Pia knew everything that was going to happen over the next few weeks. The strayed echidnas across the world would reunite for the restoration of Angel Island in the wake of the catastrophe. At the end of it all, the Independent Nation of Angel Island would be a fact. It was an important milestone in echidna history, and Silver was about to risk it all for a chance to save a few people. That idiot. 

- 

_In the next chapter:  
- Dr. Pretorious arrives in the present of a 15 year old Sonic the Hedgehog.  
- Several familiar faces.  
- Pia and Silver, currently on no-speaking terms, begin their next adventure in the past._


	8. A Sonic Adventure part one

**Chapter 7: A Sonic Adventure (Part One)**

July 21st, 200X AD. Kingdom Valley, in the island kingdom of Soleanna. 

Missiles filled the sky like hail. It was easy to tell where Sonic was from the vantage point of the multitude of missile turrets posted on the outside of Eggman's base. One needed only look slightly ahead of where the missiles were rapidly detonating against the hedgehog-free ground. 

Dr. Eggman's latest fortress had been a reversal of the usual purpose. Normally, Eggman built his headquarters in secret locations, installing defences against the unlikely chance that Sonic would somehow track down his base in spite of it all. THIS base had been built as an invitation instead, with considerably more formidable defences put up with the certainty that Sonic would answer the call. In the middle of once-beautiful Kingdom Valley, the metal complex was a serious eye sore. 

Beyond the missile zone lay a different peril. Sonic skidded to a halt as vulcan cannons sprang out of the ground and took immediate aim. Without a moment's hesitation, the hedgehog jumped straight up at the very last second, resulting in the two cannons on either side of him destroying each other instead of their target. 

To add insult to injury, Sonic yawned theatrically in mid-air, before landing as a blue ball of blazing bombardment against the robotic cannons. Once the last one was reduced to scrap, Sonic chuckled to himself and continued his run towards the entrance to Eggman's base. 

- 

Dr. Pretorious didn't step out from behind the big pile of rocks until he was sure the blue airplane circling high above was too far away to spot him. Miles Prower was the only member of the heroic group of animaloids in this time period that Pretorious had actual respect and admiration for. He really didn't want to affect any of Prower's actions during this brief visit, in case he inadvertently change the fox's noble destiny. 

Sonic and Eggman were far less important to him, so Dr. Pretorious made the sprint across the cleared path created moments before by Sonic with noticably less caution. 

Ah, Soleanna. One of the most unimportant footnotes in recorded history. If not for the presence of Sonic, there'd be virtually no chance at all to cause damage to the timeline from this particular slice of geography, no matter when you were. Nothing important had EVER happened on the island. The only reason Pretorious was here now was due to what Eggman had stored here in his base. The villain from the future had reviewed Eggman's various documented hideouts and had eventually concluded that this specific point in time presented the best opportunity to infiltrate and snatch the prize without raising too much awareness. 

As long as the obsessive Eggman kept his attention completely focused on the blue interloper, this was going to be a piece of cake. 

- 

The corridors leading from the entrance were now clouded with smoke from the explosions. Anyone who knew Sonic would know there was no chance whatsoever that he'd been caught by the blast. Any second, the blue blur would burst out of the smoke and lay waste to the robot guards. 

See? 

"Come on, Doc," Sonic said to the obvious cameras watching everything. "How about something challenging for a change?" 

On cue, the floor disappeared underneath the hedgehog, sending him falling down into a vast pit lined with spikes. Sonic spun in the air, forced his momentum forward in spite of nothing to support him, and somehow managed to grab the edge of the floor that'd seemed way too far away him to reach. Sonic pulled himself up before the pit slammed shut on top of him. 

"Huh. Looks like Eggman is really playing hardball this time," Sonic said to himself. 

The hedgehog picked up the pace. The next obstacle was a hexagonal hallway lined with hidden laser-saws within the walls. Sonic the Hedgehog made his split-second reaction time count, as he ran, jumped, ducked, spun, and dashed through the death trap, no sweat. 

Following not too far behind, Dr. Pretorious thought something unflattering as he pried open the maintenance hatch with his cane, and crawled through the narrow passage past all the deadly traps Eggman had set up for his arch-enemy. This way had to be intended for maintenance robots. Pretorious couldn't imagine the obese Dr. Eggman fitting in here. 

"That all you've got, Eggman?" Sonic called out, while the unseen time traveller rolled his eyes. 

Sonic the Hedgehog had arrived inside a large bay area where Eggman likely prepared his larger robot minions. Sure enough, a huge set of metal doors slid open to reveal a giant dinosaur-resembling red robot with Eggman himself sitting in the cockpit. 

"Sonic! Prepare to meet your doom at the hands of my Egg Tyrannus!" Eggman shouted, shaking his fists in anger. 

Sonic stroked a finger under his pointy nose. "Heh! Let's see what your new toy can do, Doc." 

Shaking his head with an exhasperated expression, Pretorious slipped around the corner of the room and out the nearest door. Not unexpectedly, he ran into a pair of Eggpawns keeping guard. They were far less than a match for his pistol. Trying to ignore the loud commosion coming from the nearby battle arena, Pretorious started his search. 

- 

As soon as they'd arrived, Pia rudely pushed Silver away from her. Maybe he didn't really deserve to have her this mad at him, but the cat had no intention of forgiving him yet, especially considering... 

"When is this?" Silver asked, looking around. Pia answered him in a cold voice, which he tried to ignore. "Let's just catch Pretorious quickly and get out of her." 

"Oh no." 

"Huh?" 

"Forget it, mister. This time, I'm going after Dr. Pretorious and you're staying put right here." 

Silver knew only one other person with a glare like that. Before all this was over, he really should ask Pia who her mother was. Now was definitely not the time. Though Silver still felt somewhat resentful towards the girl for the attitude she'd given him when he went back to help the populace of Marble Garden, he nevertheless felt the need to make amends somehow. 

"Alright," he said. "I'll wait here and stay out of sight." 

"Good," Pie responded with so much tension in her voice that it sounded like a threat. 

- 

_In the next chapter:  
- At least Silver intends to keep his promise. Alas, fate is a cruel mistress, or something.  
- More classic Sonic the Hedgehog action.  
- Dr. Pretorious continues to be vague like the professional lingo-athlete he is. __Whatever that means._


	9. A Sonic Adventure part two

**Chapter 8: A Sonic Adventure (Part Two)**

The final blow to the Egg Tyrannus's weak point caused a huge explosion. Sonic added further speed to his spin so he'd rebound far enough to avoid getting torched by the blast. As usual, the cockpit of the big robot detached as the whole thing fell apart, revealing itself as a standard Eggmobile. Although being too close to the explosion, Eggman made his escape with nothing worse than a face full of soot. 

Sonic looked around, tapping his foot impatiently. "Hey what gives?" he said. "Shouldn't this ugly place be blowing up by now?" 

It was a fair assumption. Normally, all Sonic had to do was take out Eggman's final weapon, and then make a speedy getaway as the villain's fortress started to self-destruct. 

"Oh, I get it. You've got another trick up your sleeve, don't you, Doc? Bring it on!" 

Fully cloaked, Pia the Hedgehog watched her ancestor dash through the narrow gap between the closing metal doors in hot pursuit of his long-time foe. Sometimes she wished her job was that easy; just rushing right at the enemy with no worries and playing everything by ear as she pleased. But Sonic only put his own life at risk. He didn't have to worry about all of history riding on every choice he made. Well, actually, that wasn't true, but Sonic didn't seem to care. Anyway, the blue hedgehog would make it fine in spite of all the risks he took. 

Stay focused, girl. 

- 

Dr. Pretorious carefully lifted the large container down from the top shelf of the storage room. Thank goodness for compulsive habits of organisation. Eggman was every bit as thorough with his inventory as he was with his robot designs. Pretorious needed only check the index on the console next to the door to find exactly where the item he sought was located. 

The raccoon looked through the very thick glass, and watched the blue liquid move within its prison. 

The scientist was dying to get back to his notes. He hadn't had a single free moment since the Chaos Anomaly allowed him the opportunity to complete his first objective. Now that the second objective was already fulfilled, Dr. Pretorious couldn't stand the thought of rushing any further without taking the time to write down his thoughts and findings. He would unashamedly admit that he was every bit as obsessive as his main idol Miles Prower when it came to documentation. 

Pretorious carefully put the container down on the floor, then sat down on top of a crate. He pulled out his notebook and pen, and happily got to work. 

There was a reason why Pretorious signed every single entry with his full name. The thought of dying didn't frighten him nearly as much as the thought of being forgotten. If only one single page was found by future historians, then it should be enough to ensure his name was not forgotten. Of course, when and if Trevor Kronus Pretorious reached the end of the path laid before him and returned to his own time with the ultimate prize, there'd be no risk whatsoever of EVER being forgotten. 

Dr. Pretorious wanted immortality the old-fashioned way. If he could gain the more literal version as well, then that would certainly be a bonus, though not a goal. 

- 

"Sonic, I found you!" 

"Uaah!" Silver shouted as a he was suddenly grabbed from behind by someone. 

"What are you doing hidding behind bushes for?" Amy Rose went on, still not having opened her eyes since she squeezed them shut with joy at the chance to catch Sonic. "Were you hoping for a romantic game of hide and seek?" 

"Um...I'm not Sonic. Really! I'm nobody! Just let go and forget you saw me, please." 

"Huh? Oh!" Amy jumped away, and then slapped Silver out of embarrasment. 

"I should just-" Silver began, trying to make a run for it. 

"Hey, I know you!" Amy shouted. 

"Oh please don't say you do." 

"You're Silver! You helped Sonic save me when that awful Eggman Nega turned me into a card. What are you doing here? Maybe I can help!" 

That girl was incredibly persistent. Even Sonic wouldn't be able to keep her at bay more than another five years before he finally admitted that their attraction wasn't as one-sided as he'd made it out to be. There was probably no other female anywhere in the world who could compete against Sonic's love of pure freedom with no ties or strings, but this girl was going to beat the odds through sheer determination. 

Silver could recognise a hopeless situation when he saw one, so he gave up right away. 

"I'm helping a friend chase down a fugitive from the future. You haven't seen a tall raccoon in a suit, by any chance? He doesn't have a tail, if that helps." 

"Hmmm... Nope, sorry!" 

"That's alright," said Silver, trying and failing to edge away from the pink hedgehog. 

"Ooh, I know! I'll call Tails. I saw him fly past in the Tornado 2 just a few minutes ago." 

"No, please. That's really not necessary!" Silver was practically begging at this point. 

"Oh, he won't mind, and it's the least I could do after you helped me and my precious Sonic." 

Already imagining Pia's rage, Silver watched as Amy pulled out a cute little pink cell phone and dialled a number. 

- 

Drawing power from the Master Emerald is extremely difficult. Channeling the natural output of the large gem into electrical energy is simple enough, as Dr. Eggman did when he employed the Master Emerald to fuel his Death Egg - but to draw out pure unaltered Master Emerald energy is almost impossible for a non-echidna. 

The Chaos Anomaly was a god-send. At any other time, I would've traversed the guardians of the Emerald, only to find myself completely unable to tap into its power. But thanks to the Chaos Anomaly, the Master Emerald was discharging energy at a constant rate for just a short period on that one day in history. As planned, I was able to store the energy within the sample I removed from the Chaos Core. 

(Dear reader, whomever you may be, do not bother to check my other records for the "Chaos Core" reference. Aware of my obsessions, I have through great force of will prevented myself from storing information regarding the Chaos Core anywhere within my extensive files. If my mission is succesful, then rest assured that the final pages of this journal will contain all the information necessary. Should I fail, then it is for the better that the existence of the Chaos Core be lost to obscurity. Suffice it to say that it is a tremendously dangerous object that should not be touched by anyone who does not understand and respect it.) 

Although I have only had the charged sample with me for a short time, I am certain that no amount of energy will leak from it until I am able to return it to where it belongs. 

Side-note: The Angel Echidnas felt the effects of the Chaos Anomaly even before the quakes rose damaging levels. Could the echidnas' link to the Master Emerald be more responsive than the floating island's link to the source of its gravity-defiant nature? 

There was another minor confrontation with my nemesis and her father before I had the chance to take my leave from Angel Island. I shall have to kill them or incapacitate their means of transcending time before I attempt to return to time period of the Chaos Core. If either of them knew of it, it would be unfortunate, to say the least. 

Currently, I am in at a point in time that I'm sure you all know very well. It's damn near impossible to avoid hearing too much to stand about Sonic the Hedgehog in any lifetime. The location is Soleanna. Aheeheehee. I'm sure that's a reference you'll have to look up, though. I came here in order to retrieve a specific item. 

The tail of Chaos. Strange that hardly anyone ever questioned why Chaos Zero, as it appeared in the aftermath of the battle in the flooded ruins of Station Square, once again lacked its tail. I can't imagine how Dr. Eggman managed to sort out which lump of water left in the wake of the disaster was the tail of the mutated chao, and frankly it doesn't concern me. I need the tail, and I have it now. I can only hope my next destination will yield its prize as easily as this one has. 

Doctor Trevor K. Pretorious

- 

A sudden explosion caused a large block of reinforced wall plating to fall down, missing Pretorious by inches, and smashing the container flat. 

"Well, drat," the scientist said, as he watched the lump of gelatinous blue liquid escape from the narrow gap and speed across the floor towards the door. 

There was a scream as something invisible trod in the blue liquid and slipped backwards. 

Dr. Pretorious sighed. With a slight "click", he attached a little blue speck to the tip of his futuristic handweapon and pressed a button on its side. The blue spot flew through the air and hit the cloaked cat. 

"What's this?" Pia asked, switching off the cloaking field and taking a look at the blue spot stuck on her belly. 

"Just a little tag," Pretorious answered. "In a moment you're going to appear on the scanners of every robot in this installation as 'Blue Hedgehog'. Do have fun." 

"If you think-" Pia began, only to be interrupted very rudely as an Eggpawn tackled her from behind. 

Pretorious hurried past his struggling enemy, and looked around the corridors. 

"Where the devil did that little blob go?" he wondered aloud. 

- 

_In the next chapter:  
- More of the same.  
- Eggman gets a very surprising upper hand. Surprising to him, as well.  
- Dr. Pretorious is finding that even the best laid plans can go wrong in embarrasing ways._


	10. A Sonic Adventure part three

**Chapter 9: A Sonic Adventure (Part Three)**

The fragment of Chaos flowed across the floor at unnatural speed, heading in a specific direction as its instincts directed it towards the nearest usable host body. 

Dr. Pretorious could barely keep up. You'd expect an animate blob of blue gel to leave a wet track behind, but the water that formed Chaos was so naturally drawn to itself that not even a speck of liquid remained as it in its wake. Pretorious made more than one wrong turn along the way, as he chased after the blob. At least all of Eggman's robots ignored him, as the few ones that hadn't followed the real Sonic were busy rushing after the fake Sonic that Pia had now become. 

When Pretorious finally found the last room that the piece of Chaos had entered, he hesitated with his hand inches from the door handle. The sign on the door had an ominous ring to it. It read: "Rejected Omochao model storage area." Pretorious wasn't quite sure why he felt such a foreboding, as the name "Omochao" meant absolutely nothing to him, but he nevertheless positioned himself away from the door and carefully pushed it open with the tip of his cane. 

- 

Sonic the Hedgehog needed a minute to catch his breath after that last one. 

In front of him lay the broken remains of a gigantic mech covered from head to toe with everything and anything that could throw a projectile at lethal speed. The laser cannons in the arms and the mortar blasters in the kneecaps had been a little over the top, really. 

"I've gotta hand it to ya, Eggman," said Sonic to the defeated scientist sitting where he'd fallen when his Eggmobile broke apart. "That one wasn't half-bad. Now are you gonna leave the people of this island alone, or do I have to kick your butt a third time today?" 

"Grrr! It's not over yet, hedgehog! I still have the three Chaos Emeralds I located on this island stored safely onboard my brand new Egg Carrier. You'll never- what?" 

That last false chord was due to the sudden appearance of a very strange intruder. It was a Devil Chao...robot? Supported by its oversized metal wings, the demonic omochao flew towards Sonic, who couldn't help smile at the whimsical sight before him. Sonic had seen more than enough omochaos for any lifetime, and he just wasn't ready to take one seriously today, no matter how devilishly its modifications were. 

"Trying to move into the toy industry, Eggman?" said Sonic jokingly. 

The joke didn't last, as the Devil Omochao unleased a violent spark from its glowing green eyes, sending Sonic flying across the room and into the wall hard. The grin thoroughly wiped off his face, Sonic got back up and jumped at the robot, intending to smack it down with a homing attack. How those stubby metal hands managed to grab Sonic's foot out of his speed-blurred spin and throw him to the ground was impossible to tell. 

Watching it all from the doorway, Dr. Pretorious couldn't help but chuckle. He knew he ought to intervene and prevent this little change from escalating into a full-scale temporal distortion wave, but he just couldn't resist the wonderful show presented before him. As long as the hedgehog survived at the end, there was no reason to prevent him from getting a few bruises, especially if it meant a blow to his irritating ego. Sonic the Hedgehog had quite a few more appointments with a planet in need of salvation before his eventual retirement. If it wasn't for that fact, Pretorious would've been happy to see the hedgehog die. This would do, for now. 

"O-Omochao?" said Dr. Eggman, getting to his feet slowly. 

The robot tossed Sonic aside and flew over to its original creator obediently. The constant claim to an IQ of 300 was no exagerration. Eggman focused his attention on the spiked ball floating above the robot's head. The blue gelatinous substance was familiar enough. "Well, well, if it isn't my little Chaos," said the doctor. "So the seperation of the tail happened before the creature was fully neutralised by the positive energy of the Emeralds. If not, you would've assumed an Angel Chao form, wouldn't you? In that case, you still remember your loyalty to me, don't you, Chaos? I can give you the Emeralds you so desire. All you have to do is defeat Sonic for me." 

Pretorious the eavesdropper was impressed, despite himself. He couldn't have put it better himself. Now if only the hedgehog would live up to his reputation and destroy the robot containing the tail of Chaos, so that Pretorious could collect what he came for and move on. If not for the comedy of Sonic's losing streak, this embarrasing charade would be almost too much to handle. What more could possibly go wrong at this point? 

- 

"You two really don't need to come along," Silver said, trying once again to reason with Amy. 

"Maybe he's right," said Tails, igniting a tiny spark of hope. 

"No way! Sonic needs our help! I can feel it," Amy countered, applying a firehose to the metaphorical candle. 

Maybe we can find Sonic and Dr. Pretorious before Pia catches on, thought Silver. Maybe I can tie up Pretorious and get away from the others before she even spots me, so she'll never know I wound up interacting with so many people from the past after all. Maybe... Geeze, Blaze is right. I really am naive. 

The trio quickly found themselves faced with the first death trap set up for Sonic. 

"Whoops, looks like we're not getting through here," said Silver. "Why don't you guys head back and wait for-" 

"Hey look, there's some kind of maintenance duct," Tails interrupted, poking his head through the open panel. "We can get in through here." 

"Oh. Great. That's...really great." 

- 

Pia grimaced as she struggled to keep her concentration. She couldn't catch bullets like her father, or fly through the air like a fireball like her mother. Instead, she focused her pyrokinesis through the air between her and the throng of guard robots, causing the bullets fired to explode into fragments before they could reach her. If her Jumpsuit had been built to stop plain old metal bullets, it would've been too heavy to wear while still moving at a comfortable speed. The circuitry of the Jumpsuit alone took up so much space she'd look like she was wearing three layers of medieval armour if the suit had been made to deflect these kind of projectiles. It made sense. Hardly anyone used primitive lead-flinging guns in the present, and the whole point was to stay completely unnoticed when travelling in the past, especially to people with weapons. 

No point in trying to cloak again. That damn blue spot called out to everything regardless. Pia had tried to remove it, but had given up quickly. She'd be more likely to tear her own flesh off beforehand. 

- 

Sonic the Hedgehog, Silver the Hedgehog and Pia the Hedgehog were all sweating in the face of dire peril. Silver was being silly, but the other two were dealing with serious life-threatening danger. 

Surely it couldn't get any worse now? 

- 

_In the next chapter:  
- Our heroes battle the horrific menace of Omochao.  
- Dr. Pretorious really gets a kick out the whole thing.  
- Eggman gets his comeuppance, one way or the other._


	11. A Sonic Adventure part four

**Chapter 10: A Sonic Adventure (Last Part)**

Pia felt the last of her stamina drain away. Just how many rounds of bullets could one machine hold? The next time she had to refocus her energies again to toast an incoming melee attacker, she knew she'd be too drained to prevent the stationary gun-bots from finishing her off. 

Great...now she was starting to halucinate as well... 

But the fox with the helicopter rear was no halucination, and neither was the aggressive pink hedgehog he was carrying. While Silver dashed past Pia and froze the shower of bullets with his psycho-kinesis, Amy dropped down on the robot thugs with a comically oversized hammer, smashing them into the floor. With the aid of Tails's tail-based combat skills and Silver's psychic abilities, the gang finished off Eggman's robot guards with ease. 

Silver was sorry to see the last robot fall apart, because that meant it was time to face the music. 

Perhaps fortunately, Amy couldn't recognise an awkward silence at first glance, and tended to make certain assumptions right off. Before Pia could catch her breath and start yelling, Amy blurted the following: 

"Hi, you must be Silver's new girlfriend! I'm Amy Rose. Nice to meet you." 

Pia cycled through an array of expressions, ranging from unbridled rage to lukewarm embarrasment. It took her a minute to finally get a sentence out. 

"Nice to meet you, too, Amy. Silver is definitely not my type, in every way possible." 

"Aw..." went Amy, giving Silver a sympathetic look. 

"It's okay. I don't like her either," said Silver without thinking. "I mean, we're relatives," he added in a failed attempt to patch over that last slip. 

"_Distant_ relatives," said Pia sourly. 

Even Amy got the hint that she'd wandered into touchy territory. Tails came to the rescue with "Have you seen Sonic, miss...?" 

"Pia," said Pia. "Yeah, I saw Sonic head through the metal doors at the end of the big room back there. He'll be fine, though. You and Amy should go back outside where it's safe and wait for him. Silver can stay with you. You obviously already know each other better than you should." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Amy asked with an indignant expression. 

"Forget it. Just go and let me do my job." 

Silver had had about enough. 

"Like you were doing just now?" he said sharply. "If you want to pretend that we didn't just save your life, then fine, but the fact of the matter is that you need my help." 

Amy cleared her throat loudly. 

"I mean, our help," Silver corrected himself. 

Pia wasn't convinced. "There's a nut-case and a piece of Chaos running loose here, and you want to increase the number of liabilities? How did someone as reckless as you ever become the leader of an organisation designed to PREVENT the abuse of history?" 

"Did you say Chaos?" Tails asked, only to be ignored. 

"Reckless? If you hadn't been so afraid to take a chance, we could've captured Pretorious back on Angel Island." 

"You really think so? If you'd thrown that rock, the whole island would've ended up at the bottom of the ocean. You don't even care how much work it is to track and repair every miniscule change to history, do you?" 

"Stop treating me like I'm some kind of incompetent beginner. I've been capturing time-travelling criminals since before you were born! Heck, I still am!" 

Tails and Amy shared a worried look as the argument continued to heat up. 

"Just because you stopped Eggman Nega a few times and defeated Metal Sonic doesn't make you qualified to do my job!" Pia shouted. "If you'd hadn't been so overconfident you could've called for backup and trapped Metal Sonic before it left the studio at Central City University. Then my mother wouldn't have lost her leg, and billions wouldn't have been killed by the Ultimate Overlord!" 

"T-that wasn't my fault!" Silver shouted back with a slight stutter. Having his personal doubts thrown back at him as accussations cut deeper than he cared to admit. He was too wound-up to notice what Pia had just referred to Blaze as. 

- 

Sonic was having trouble. How could that little posessed robot react so fast? With those nasty sparks of energy it let off, Sonic couldn't get close enough to do anything. He might try running around it fast enough to catch it with a whirlwind, but the Devil Omochao seemed to have thought of that as well, and wouldn't stay in one spot for even a second. Best Sonic could do right now was dodge the blasts and keep away. 

Who was shouting so much? Sonic had never needed any concentration at all to do something as natural to him as run at extreme speed, so he had plenty to spare for picking out the muffled sounds over Eggman's malevolent laughter and the Devil Omochao's crackling energy. One of the voices sounded familiar, but Sonic couldn't place it. 

What the heck? Sonic the Hedgehog liked to handle things on his own, but in all honesty he could use a hand with this bizarre fiend. Sonic sped out the side-door that seemed to be in the right direction of the noise. If it was good guys, he could use their help, and if it was bad guys, then they might draw some of the robot's attention away from him. 

- 

In Silver and Pia's little world, sparks were flying and flames roared. Neither one was stopping to think for even a second now, and were throwing out insults and accusations that only barely made sense. 

Silver was yelling at Pia for things he could only assume were true, and Pia was yelling at her father for things he hadn't even done yet. 

Amy and Tails had given up trying to break up the two, and were now just standing there awkwardly while they waited for them to run out of things to shout. 

Only when Sonic burst into the scene and skidded to a halt between Silver and Pia did they regain touch with the present. Well, the past present, anyway. 

"Hey guys," said Sonic. "Silver, long time no see. Who's your friend?" 

"Pia. Just pia," said Silver and the cat herself at the same time. 

"Hi, Pia. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog." 

"Yeah...I know." 

"Cool. Listen, there's an Omochao with a serious grudge on my tail. Think you guys could help out?" 

- 

Dr. Pretorious tip-toed after the Devil Omochao. It seemed to be heading back the way he'd come, which meant Sonic had probably run into Pia's corpse by now. Such a shame that the raccoon lacked the opportunity to witness the death of his nemesis. Hmmm... Oh, why get his hopes up? The girl's rude habit of freeing herself from traps that any decent person should accept as inescapable was probably still in effect. 

Maybe he should procure one of these primitive weapons for himself? Though certainly impervious to most modern firearms, Jumpsuits were generally not proof against good old-fashioned bullets. Worth considering. 

- 

Silver tried to catch the Devil Omochao with his psycho-kinesis, but the thing moved too fast and erratically for him to focus on it. However, with Tails and Sonic distracting the robot from above and below it, Silver managed to get a grip, and forced it to the floor. Once both the Devil Omochao's feet touched the surface, Pia summoned a powerful flame towards it, trying and quickly succeeding in melting the robot's feet until it was fused to the ground. Desperately, the Devil Omochao fired frantically around at Pia, Silver, Sonic and Tails. If it had paid attention to Amy as well, it would've had a chance against the massive hammer slamming down on it. 

A pathetic puff of smoke rose up from the crushed robot. 

"Way to go, guys," said Sonic. "Awesome team effort!" 

"Wow, look at that," said Tails, pointing. 

The tail of Chaos reemerged from the scrap and tried to escape across the floor again. It made it halfway through the corridor before it was scooped up into an empty container. Dr. Pretorious slammed the lid down and screwed it tight, trapping the tail once again. 

Both Silver and Pia started running the second they saw Pretorious. Once again they proved just too late, as with a happy smile, the raccoon pressed a button on the wall beside him, causing a reinforced blast door to cut the corridor in half, putting the villain and the heroes on opposite sides. A few seconds later, the two time-travellers heard the familiar sound of Pretorious's portable time portal in operation. 

"Was that the person you're chasing?" Amy asked. 

"Yes," said Silver. 

Pia swore once again. Silver momentarily wondered about his parenting skills, since he'd apparently failed to prevent her from gaining that bad habit. Then he remembered how mad he was at her, and decided he didn't care right now. 

"I've got to get through to where he was standing when he left, or I can't track him," Pia said, half to herself. 

Suddenly a computerised voice announced that "The self-destruct system has been activated. This base will self-destruct in two minutes..." 

"Looks like we'd better scram," said Sonic. 

"Yeah, yeah," Pia responded without much interest. "You'll run outside, get in the Tornado 2, chase down the fleeing Egg Carrier, and retrieve the Chaos Emeralds from Eggman. Soleanna is saved, and everyone's happy. Get to it." 

"You heard the lady," said Sonic, picking up Amy and running towards the exit with Tails flying close behind. 

Pia was frantically trying to burn her way through the blast door. Silver could tell that there was no way that thick metal was going to melt away in time. "Isn't there some other way we can find out where Pretorious went?" he asked. 

"Maybe...if I feed all the information I have into the main computer back at Temporal Protectorate HQ I can triangulate Pretorious's next destination in time-space." 

"But first," she added, grabbing Silver's arm, "I'm going to do what I should've done in the first place. I'm taking you back to your own time where you belong." 

Silver's protests were drowned out by the flashy effects as the Jumpsuit's time travel circuits activated. 

- 

The next thing Silver knew, he was falling from a great height towards an alien landscape painted in purple and black. He used his levitation power to catch Pia and carry them both down to the ground safely. 

"Looks like you sent us to the wrong time," Silver said, looking around at the twisted scenery. The only thing that remotely resembled buildings were those gigantic black monoliths covered in rows of white lights. 

Suddenly something shouted to the pair. The language was ancient, and poorly replicated, but Pia's Jumpsuit's audio input circuits nevertheless automatically translated it to English as: 

"_Alien intruders. You have violated the borders of the almighty Black Arms. Lay down your weapons and prepare to be destroyed!_" 

Stepping out of the shadows, dozens of Black Arms soldiers approached Silver and Pia with their laser weapons drawn and ready. 

Before Pia could think of what to say, her Jumpsuit issued a warning into her ear. 

"WARNING! Temporal distortion wave effects detected. Level: Critical." 

The Black Arms attacked... 

- 

_In the next chapter:  
- Silver and Pia are faced with the daunting task of not only discovering what happened, but also managing to stay alive in this dangerous environment.  
- Black Doom's paradise is revealed.  
- Prelude to the next adventure, even further into the past than before._


	12. History of Doom

_((So far we've succesfully gone 8 full chapters with a low-low score of one single (very excellent) review, not counting my own brief whine. Let's all stick together and see if we can manage a full 10 chapters with a mute audience. This achievement in mediocrity can be done if we all believe in ouselves, so let's give it our best shot.))_

**Chapter 11: History of Doom**

The Black Tower rose several miles over the crimson wastelands drained of nearly all of its original life. The only buildings in the vicinity of the stronghold were the supply structures for the mighty Black Comets being crafted from the blackened mountains. Although this planet had sustained the Black Arms for thousands of years, it would soon be abandoned as its alien masters sought out new worlds to conquer and drain of all resources...

It was fortunate that one of the many eyes of the omnipotent overlord of the Black Arms was nearby when the party of soldiers happened upon the first two animaloids seen on the planet in over seven hundred years. Black Doom, in his infinite wisdom, knew better than to allow such a unique discovery to be destroyed without first seeking answers. If there was a hidden community of animaloids somewhere, then it would be a terrible waste to abandon the planet without harvesting it first. The soldiers were ordered to merely overpower and capture the hedgehog and the cat, rather than killing them. Although the pair put up a very impressive fight, they had little chance to escape once the hedgehog breathed in too much of the paralyzing gas that made up the planet's atmosphere. The Doom's Eye watching the battle found it strange that the cat wasn't affected by the gas. The inevitable interrogation should yield the answers, though.

"Whe' ae 'e?" said Silver, unable to move his jaw, as he and Pia were carried towards the ominous structure streching beyond the blood-red clouds that filled the sky.

The soldiers had stuck them both up to their shoulders in some kind of cocoons. Whatever it was, it smelled revolting and kept them from being able to move a muscle. In Silver's case the bondage was redundant.

"History's been changed, horribly. I'm getting flooded with temporal distortion warnings, here," said Pia. She was lucky that her Jumpsuit had all its holes patched, or she'd be as immobile as Silver.

"'m sho'ee," Silver apologised.

"Not your fault. Shadow destroyed the Black Arms months before Sonic and his friends travelled to Soleanna, and the illegal cloning of the Jet Black Arms shouldn't have anything to do with what happened on Angel Island in the twenty-second century."

The Doom's Eye flew in close to the alien party and its captives. It said something at length to the pair, ending with maniacal laughter.

"'had id 'e shay?" Silver wondered.

"You don't want to know. Oh, that's funny. Now it's asking what we're saying. I've got a hunch that that no one ever got around to developing the English language in this timeline."

-

A short while later, the Doom's Eye that'd observed the capture of the animaloids returned to the source via special passages through the interior of the Black Tower designed specifically for their travel.

Black Doom, supreme ruler of Earth and its surrounding planets, had evolved to his final stage since he oversaw the succesful enslavement of the pathetic humans and anthropomorphic animals of this planet. His tentacles blended with the structure itself, making the Black Tower as much his body as it was his stronghold. This bulk would never be removed, but each of the many Doom's Eye creatures born from his massive body contained the potential to grow into a new overlord for its personal Black Comet, launched into the far reaches of space. It was the eternal life cycle of the Black Arms species. It didn't matter that hundreds of the motherships would never find an apt planet to feast upon, because there would be millions of Black Comets created from the barren rocks of the many planets of this solar system.

This overripe alien hive mind called Black Doom knew that he would soon die. Already his direct control over the billions of spawn innhabiting this planet was weakening, as the Doom's Eyes slowly developed independent sentience and control over their respective swarms. In just a few more years it would all be over for him. To put it bluntly, the last few centuries had been unbearably boring. There was nothing left to conquer, nothing left to corrupt, nothing left to plan. The sudden and completely unexpected appearance of a pair of actual living animaloids was such a treat that Black Doom felt like he was a youngster of five hundred years again.

Even as the pair were carried through the lengthy passageways of the Black Tower, its ruler and prisoner thought up exciting methods for keeping the animaloids alive and ripe for torture for years to come. Oh, this was going to be so much fun!

-

Pia had thought the Black Arms soldiers looked disgusting. Compared to their leader, they were shining examples of class and appeal.

Tentacles that had become thin and wrinkly, with their outer layers hanging loosely towards the floor, tied a grotesquely bloated black body to its seat in the centre of the hive-like throne room. Barely more than a few threads were left of the decaying outfit, and the ornamental jewelry had become corroded with age. Literally hundreds of eyes surrounded a single gigantic red and sickly eye in the middle of the twisted body.

At the telepathic command of Black Doom, the soldiers secreted a fluid that dissolved the goop Silver and Pia were trapped in, then left the animaloids alone in the throne room.

Black Doom started talking in the same language they'd heard earlier. Pia heard the translation as "_Welcome, mammals. I am glad to see that your species is not extinct, after all. To destroy your kind a second time will be a wonderful pleasure in the final days of my existence._"

Now that her hands were free, Pia quickly adjusted her system to automatically translate what she said into the ancient language Black Doom was speaking.

"_Oh, perfect ruler,_" she said, pouring it on thick, "_please share with us the story of your triumph over the weak and pathetic beings native to this world._"

Silver could tell what she was planning, so he kept quiet and let her handle things. Besides, he could barely get a syllable out at this point.

"_A fond memory,_" Black Doom responded. "_Twenty-two hundred cycles of orbit have been completed around the nearby star since the eve of my triumph. It was a brief visit to the planet as my Black Comet passed through the solar system. My intention was merely to plant a mighty fortress upon the planet in preparation for future conquest, but to my surprise and delight, a native delivered to my minions the very seven vessels of supreme power that I had sought for so long..._"

"_I am awed by your achivement, supreme Black Doom. Tell me, is the fortress you speak of the one that was to be hidden away in the canyon of glyphs in the South-Western continent?_"

"_Indeed. The glory that-_"

"_Yeah, you can shut up now, pus-bag,_" Pia interrupted the alien overlord in a dismissive tone. "Let's go, Silver. We're going to visit Glyphic Canyon 2000 years before Shadow the Hedgehog is supposed to destroy the Black Arms. We'll find out what Pretorious screwed up, and prevent this mess from ever happening."

Frustrated by confusion, Black Doom lashed out his tentacles at the cat standing close to her paralyzed friend, only to have them both vanish with a flash before he could grab them.

Black Doom's scream of rage could be heard from miles surrounding the Black Tower...

-

_In the next chapter:  
- Pia and Silver must find out how the Chaos Emeralds wound up in Black Doom's posession in the past, and prevent it from happening at all costs.  
- What's Dr. Pretorious after this time? Did he mean to allow the Black Arms to achieve their conquest, or did he make a catastrophic miscalculation?  
- Just how did the innhabitants of a primitive Earth repel the alien invaders in unchanged history?_


	13. To Change a Destiny part one

**Chapter 12: To Change a Destiny (Part One)**

September 2nd, 15 BC. Glyphic Canyon.

-

_My beloved wife, Nole.  
_

_  
Ever since our blood line was gifted with the powers of the wind, it has been our sacred duty to be messengers for our wise tribunal. As my father and his father before him, I have obeyed their commands without question, trusting in the divine knowledge of the leaders of our mighty tribe. But as the Day of the Demon drew closer, uncertainty found me. I knew my faith would falter once the blood storm filled the sky, testifying the return of the dark monsters. I admit that cowardice entered my heart in the face of the demonic invasion.  
_

_  
Before sunrise today, I was given a new mission by the eldest of the Five himself. Although I am no priest, I was given entrance to the Tribunal's temple, and shown the source of their power. The seven magic stones, the ones that we are taught as children that the Gods used in crafting the world, are no mere legend. They are real, and I, Ma'Ik of the House of Hedgehog, was entrusted with the grave task of taking the magic stones to a safe hiding place until the demons departed from our land.  
_

_  
I did not understand why a responsibility so great would be given to one as weak of faith as I, yet I accepted. It was not until I saw the divine traveller that I understood the Gods' plan. Not long after I departed from the village did I witness a raccoon draped in strange cloths. He did not see me, but I know he could sense my presence, for he revealed his divine powers before my very eyes. A large snake attempted to ensnare the raccoon, only to be killed by a mere gesture by the divine one. Every child knows that serpents are allies of demons, and thus the display could not be any more clear: The Gods have taken pity on us and sent a champion to defeat the demons forever.  
_

_  
I should have approached the divine one immediatelly, and delivered the magic stones as proof of our people's piety, but I was a coward. I could not move until the raccoon had left.  
_

_  
My faith is strong once again. To ensure the safety and survival of our people, I will defy the tribunal and travel to the dark lair of the demons, where the divine one must surely be poised to strike against the evil creatures. If I do not return, care for our child and let him know that his father died for the sake of his future.  
_

_  
My love, always, Ma'Ik._

- 

It was pretty weird watching days go by in mere minutes, as they stood and waited at the edge of the canyon. Pia couldn't be expected to work out the exact calendar date in the spur of the moment, so she sent them both 2250 years back in time, arriving in Glyphic Canyon before the Black Arms temple was brought down from their passing Black Comet. If the annual arrival worked the same way in these ancient times that it did in Shadow the Hedgehog's time, then the Black Comet only had a window of opportunity of 2-3 days every 50 years. All Silver and Pia needed to do was find an undisturbed spot, then simply fast-forward. So they did. 

They couldn't be sure that what Pretorious had changed happened while the Black Arms were inserting their temple into the canyon, but either way the thing they had to make certain was that when the Black Comet's window closed, the aliens would leave the planet without ever getting hold of the Chaos Emeralds. That ought to be enough to put history back on the right track, so everything could play out the way it was supposed to until Shadow destroyed the Black Comet with the Eclipse Cannon. This was one case where foiling Pretorious's mysterious agenda would have to take a backseat to plain old' saving the world from nasty aliens. 

"This could take a while," said Pia. "In the meantime, I'd like to hear exactly what happened that got you to round up and bring along Sonic's friends back in the twenty-first century." 

"Well," Silver began. The explanation took a while, but it ended with Pia laughing out loud, so that was alright. 

"At least you tried," she said. "Can't expect you to shake off Amy Rose when even the fastest person who ever lived failed to do it." 

There was a blue moon that night, and a beautiful sunrise the next day. 

"Look," said Silver a week later. 

Pia quickly turned off her Jumpsuit's time travel function. By that time the red clouds had converged over the canyon and twisted into a funnel shape that extended far upwards and out of sight. Hundreds of black spots were flying out of the tunnel in the sky, and Silver imagined that it must've looked like this when the aliens invaded Westopolis almost two centuries before he was born. 

"Alright, let's split up," said Pia. "Black Doom said that a native delivered the Chaos Emeralds to them, so we'll scout the perimeter between here and that village past the jungle to the East. Intercept anyone who looks suspicious. I hate to say it, but this is no time to worry about interfering with history. I mean, well, you know what I mean." 

"Yeah, I definitely know what you mean." The sight of the elderly Black Doom had been practically burned into Silver's memory. Black slugs or the mere mention of pink eye would be enough to make him sick to his stomach now.

-

2 hours later. 

Dr. Pretorious hurried through the pass at the end of the canyon. Although the raccoon usually kept to a leisurely pace, he could run fast when he had to. He wished he'd invested in a cloaking device like those Temporal Protectorate agents had. That way he wouldn't have had to put so much effort into sneaking around the Black Arms patrols in order to get to what he was after. 

Well, he'd been wrong, as it turned out. The arrival of the Black Arms hadn't had anything to do with the Chaos Core suddenly disappearing from existence. He'd found the spot where the Core had been located at the dawn of time, and there wasn't even the slightest trace element left. 

This point in time didn't have anything left to offer. At least he'd finally managed to lose his nemesis back in Soleanna. He hadn't seen neither hide nor hair of the interfering pair during his entire trip to this period. 

-

My theory regarding the presence of the Black Arms at this specific location on Earth was incorrect. Nothing futher needs to be said. I will depart immediatelly for my next destination. 

Doctor Trevor K. Pretorious.

- 

_In the next chapter:  
- Will Silver and Pia manage to stop Ma'Ik in time?  
- Are the ancient tribe planning to do anything about the "demons"?  
- Is this the last we'll see of Dr. Pretorious for this entire episode?_


	14. To Change a Destiny part two

**Chapter 13: To Change a Destiny (Part Two)**

Pia felt a little bad about tricking Silver, but this really was the best way. She was the one who could communicate in the language of the day, and configuring her Jumpsuit's trackers to look for Chaos Emerald energy signatures was straightforward enough that it only took a minute. She might need Silver's help before they were done here, but for now the smartest thing was to make sure the native carrying the Chaos Emeralds wasn't startled by them. This was a primitive culture, so they were probably sexist enough not to be wary of a lonely woman. All the tears in her red uniform from the fight with the Cleaver back in the present and the subsequent patching of the Jumpsuit certainly helped lend authenticity to her image as someone from this time period. Taking off her sneakers might also be a good idea, but Pia had a feeling she'd be running a lot before this mess was fixed. 

The Temporal Protectorate agent looked closely at the little map in the corner of her heads-up display. The blip representing the Chaos Emeralds was moving around, but still staying put within the perimeter of the village in the near distance. 

Pia planned to wait until the native began the trek from here to the canyon where the Black Arms were already starting to shape the soil with their alien technology. At a sprint, she was at least as fast as her mother was in her prime. Pia didn't doubt for a second that she'd catch up to the native no matter which route they took. 

Ah, the blip was moving again, this time towards the wooden fence that seperated the village from the thick jungle surrounding it. Pia got comfortable. It'd take them at least ten minutes to get to where she lay in hiding. 

The orange cat made the mistake of blinking right at that moment, which was why she didn't see what happened to the blip on her mini-map. One second it was there, the next it was gone. 

"Signal lost. Attempting to trace signal," said the helpful voice in her ear. 

That wasn't necessary now. Pia could see the dust cloud from here. It shot right past her position. 

"Oh sh-" 

- 

The green blur slowed down when the demon army came into view. The foul beings had violated the sanctity of the Chasm of the Forefathers. How dare they befoul that holy place with their presence? 

Ma'Ik leapt backwards as a nightmarish thing appeared over the edge of the cliff and drifted towards him. He could only describe it as a starfish with a reptilian eye growing out of its middle. 

"_The Emeralds of Chaos! I can sense their power!_" 

"_Back, demon! I carry your undoing at the hands of the Divine Traveller!_" Ma'Ik shouted, clutching the sack containing the magic stones. 

The demonic sea creature flew closer. "_The Black Arms are the only divinity you have need for. Do you know of the wars, famines and vile pestilence that rule over this world? Fear no demons, the true threat is man and animal kind. Only our perfect order can save you - the order of Black Arms!_" 

"_I will not listen to your lies!_" Ma'Ik shouted, and turned to speed away. 

As soon as the green hedgehog put one sandal before the other, a foul black serpent-like monster exploded out of the ground, throwing Ma'Ik off his feet. His sack tumbled away out of his reach. 

"_My dear Annelid, eat and devour this savoury dish. Now that the Emeralds are ours, my spawn will never hunger again!!_" 

Doom's Eye stretched his tentacles towards the sack, which suddenly started to glow and levitate rapidly in the opposite direction. Silver caught the Emeralds with his left hand, while releasing a psycho-kinetic blast with his right, paralyzing the giant worm before it could swallow the green hedgehog. 

"_Who dares defy me? You will suffer unrelenting pain for untold ages as punishment for this crime against the superior beings in this galaxy! Your action will be a betrayal of your entire species, when the inevitable comes to pass and-_" 

Some things would never change. Black Doom, for example, never knew and would never learn when to stop talking. Silver had more than enough time to get fed up with the gibberish and simply grab the lightweight alien eye with his power, then toss it like a rock into the chasm. 

"_You must be an ally of the raccoon sent by the Gods. You have saved me from the demons!_" said Ma'Ik to his rescuer. 

"You must be the idiot Pretorious tricked into handing over the Chaos Emeralds to the Black Arms. They're alien monsters, not deities or whatever you think they are," said Silver to the native. 

Since neither one of the two could understand a word the other was saying, the exchange didn't accomplish much. Either way, the two hedgehogs weren't out of danger yet. More black worms shot out of the ground around them, while dozens of airborne Black Arms approached from the unfinished structures being constructed in the middle of the canyon. 

Silver pushed the sack into Ma'Ik's arms, and pulled out a Chaos Emerald. "I've only done this once, and I had Shadow's help that time, but..." 

Black Doom's holographic image appeared near where his minions were closing in on the interlopers. The sight delivered to the alien overlord was a shocking one: These primitive creatures had learned how to perform Chaos Control. But how? Could even his perfect intellect have underestimated the capability of the Earthlings? 

This changed everything... 

- 

The jungle encircling the canyon seemed to go on forever, with the barren terrain in the distance just refusing to get any closer. Pia's legs ached, but she couldn't stop running now. Far too much was at stake. Even though it seemed impossible, she had to catch up with that native and stop him from delivering the Chaos Emeralds to the Black Arms. She had to- 

The sudden flash of blinding light made Pia trip over her own legs. When she looked up, there was Silver holding a Chaos Emerald, and beside him stood a fearful-looking green hedgehog clutching a luminous leather sack. 

"Whoaaa..." said Silver. "No wonder Sonic never used Chaos Control unless he absolutely had to." 

"Chaos Control?" Pia repeated, standing up slowly. "Wait, this is- It's him, isn't it?" 

"Yeah. Old geezer Doom wasn't exagerrating. This guy really had all seven Chaos Emeralds with him. Well, still does. Six, plus this one here, I mean. Unbelievable, isn't it?" 

"_The tongue of the Gods. If only I were worthy enough to understand. No, forgive me for questioning your divine judgement. It is right that one so lowly as I should not understand the sacred tongue._" 

Pia made a face. 

"Can you understand what he's saying?" Silver asked. 

"Every word. It's the same language the Black Arms were speaking in that nightmare future. They must've enslaved Earth almost immediatelly after getting the Emeralds. You know what? It's against every Temporal Protectorate regulation, but I'm going to have to have a serious chat with this guy and set him straight. We don't want to risk him or his descendants making the same mistake the next time the Black Arms visit Earth." 

"Alright. You probably know best. As long as he gets the idea that Chaos Emeralds and Black Arms should definitely not mix. Ever." 

"_I'm Pia. This is Silver. What is your name?_" 

"_Ma'Ik of the House of Hedgehog, divine one. How may I serve the Gods with my life?_" 

After watching Silver in action, the native was terrified of him. Pia would have liked if Ma'Ik would give her a few intimidated looks while she talked to him instead of glancing towards Silver all the time. Well, not _like_ liked, but... 

Silver could tell from the green hedgehog's body language that he was giving them more credit than they deserved, to put it lightly. Indeed, Pia didn't make too much progress with the interview until she was able to convince Ma'Ik that he didn't need to keep praising them and putting himself down between every single statement. It didn't take her long at all to start envying Silver for not being able to understand any of that drivel. Eventually, she did manage to get the necessary information from Ma'Ik. Pia was surprised that the change Pretorious had made was simply letting himself be seen by an impressionable nut. In all fairness, Ma'Ik was probably the perfect poster boy for his culture, but he wasn't someone you should trust with the fate of the world. At least fixing the change was simple enough. All Pia had to do was emphasise the importance of listening to the 'Five' instead of trying to interpret apparent miracles on his own. Judging by the length of Ma'Ik's apology, the message got through. 

"_So now do as you were instructed, and take the magic stones to safety until the demons depart. Don't breathe a word to anyone about your meeting with us OR the raccoon, and all will be forgiven,_" Pia finished. 

"_I will, divine one! Thank you! Thank you so much!_" Ma'Ik said, clearly on the verge of tears. 

Silver and Pia watched Ma'Ik run off at fantastic speed. 

"He's no Sonic the Hedgehog, that's for sure," said Silver. 

"Yeah." Pia looked thoughtfully towards the distance, then added "But you know, I don't think Sonic himself would've been any more dependable if he'd been born in this time and raised the same way Ma'Ik has been. He's been told all his life how insignificant he is, so now he believes it so completely that he doesn't even realise how powerful he could be." 

"I guess you're right. So what do we do now?" 

"Well, Ma'Ik gave me a very good description of the place where he saw Pretorious. If there's some tracks, then maybe we can find him, or at least discover the exact location he departed from this time period at. It's over thi- Do you feel that?" 

"Yeah, the ground is vibrating," Silver responded, looking around. "Could just be an earthquake. Let me try to fly up over these trees and take a look." 

The white hedgehog levitated up over the trees. The sight before him gave an unmistakable indication that there was still a lot left to do before Ma'Ik's error could be rectified. 

The Black Arms were marching directly towards the village. All of them. They'd abandoned their operation in Glyphic Canyon and focused every last soldier, hawk, giant, bull and worm towards the jungle and the populated village directly in their path. Black Doom wasn't about to let the Chaos Emeralds go just yet... 

- 

_In the next chapter:  
- All-out conflict between the Black Arms and Ma'Ik's tribe.  
- Silver and Pia need to not only repell the invasion, but convince Black Doom that getting Chaos Emeralds is way out of his league, lest he attempt the exact same thing every 50 years after.  
- Still nothing from Dr.Pretorious._


	15. To Change a Destiny part three

**Chapter 14: To Change a Destiny (Last Part)**

The heroes talked while they ran towards the village. 

Said Silver: 

"I think we've better find out the exact reason why the Black Arms never succeeded in conquering Earth before Shadow was created. Something has to have convinced them that locating the Emeralds themselves was impossible. I mean, why bother putting that temple in Glyphic Canyon if they could simply swarm the planet during each 50 year visit until they succesfully rounded up all seven Emeralds?" 

Said Pia: 

"The Black Arms must've gotten a nasty taste of reality the first time they visisted Earth. I only wish we knew more about the history of the Americas before the settlers arrived. This is the part of the world that the Chaos Emeralds originally came from. SOMETHING created them, and then disappeared without a trace. The Black Arms may have a lot of brute power, but if they had even the faintest idea how to create a Chaos Emerald, they wouldn't need to bother with this war over the millennia." 

With their mounting fatigue and the pressing urgency of the situation, neither one got a sentence out that clear. They managed to get the main message across to each other, though. 

"You go after Ma'Ik, Pia," said Silver. "I'll do whatever I can to slow the Black Arms down." 

"Ma'Ik? Why, what can he do? He should just keep going and get the Chaos Emeralds as far away as possible." 

"With our powers and technology, we might be able to stop the Black Arms somehow, but what good will that do? We can't go back here every fifty years until the present. We've got to show Black Doom that the people of this time period can still defend themselves, and the Emeralds are the only way!" 

"But that might amount to the same as just handing the Emeralds over... Take a chance, huh?" 

Pia had to admit that if it hadn't been for Silver, Black Doom would already have what he sought. It was about time she stopped resenting him for things he hadn't even said or done yet. This wasn't the Silver who yelled at her and got her agent licence revoked for over a year when she tried to make that one tiny little change in the past for her own sake. She couldn't keep up this stupid rebellion against him. 

"Fine," said Pia. "We'll try it your way." 

The pair split up again. Pia activated her scanners again, this time extending the scan area considerably. Hopefully Ma'Ik was staying put long enough for her to locate the Emeralds' signal. 

...once all this was over, Pia intended to have a very long talk with her father. Until then, she may as well appreciate the company of the Silver who wasn't a stubborn old jerk. 

- 

An accolyte ran up the stone steps to the temple situated at the centre of the village. The human boy was stopped near the entrance the inner temple by a pair of guards with sharp spears. 

"_What is this? You have no place here, child,_" said the senior of the guards. 

"_Demons! The demons are coming!_" the terrified youth exclaimed. 

"_Leave your fantasies in the play pen, child. This is no place for such words. The tribunal is enganged in prayer and will not be disturbed. Leave now, lest you face the judgement of the Five._" 

"_Wait!_" 

The guards were shocked to hear the voice of High Priest Peloa, youngest and only animaloid member of the Five. Peloa was a raccoon. Her specific species certainly attributed to Ma'Ik's great mistake regarding Pretorious. 

"_What child would tell such stories on the Day of the Demon? To bring a lie to this place and time would be an act of foolishness so great it could not be done without immesurable bravery and...carelessness. You, guard, go with him and see this claim of demonic invasion for yourself, then return to me. If he is telling the truth, he may be blessed as a saviour. If he is lying, then a soldier's destiny shall be his, as fitting for one so brave._" 

- 

Silver gritted his teeth as he uprooted trees with his psycho-kinetic power in order to reinforce his crude barricade of rocks and dirt. Now he wished he'd held on to that Chaos Emerald. Everything became so much easier with one of those gems. 

Would this slow down the Black Arms for even a second? Probably not, but the great big pile of log rollers Silver was preparing should help. 

- 

Pia didn't have a chance of catching up to the supersonic hedgehog, so she did the next best thing and worked out the most direct route between where her minimap showed him and where the village was located, and positioned herself in clear view. 

Sooner than she expected, the blur of speed came into view. As soon as he saw her, Ma'Ik broke off to the right and circled around the cat twice just to be able to slow down from his high speed. Not quite as elegant as Sonic the Hedgehog, no. 

"_Pia, honoured one, I have done as I was commanded. The Gods will forgive me now, yes?_" 

Pia opened her mouth to tell the hedgehog that his work wasn't done yet, but instead she said"_Why are you so worried about what the Gods think?_" 

"_You test me, I understand. I know well that the true horror is not the demons of this world, but those in the next one. The trials of this world may be painful, but only the worthy may be granted a place in Miklan, the Dead Land. If I am judged to be wanting, then I will not see my wife and child in the next world. I could not bear eternity without them. Oh! Forgive me for wasting your time with my petty concerns, divine one._" 

Pia felt sick to her stomach. She wasn't an athiest, because that was virtually impossible to be when malevolent gods tried to destroy the world every couple of centuries, and unexplainable mystic energies were a fact of life - but she couldn't stand the way certain religions controlled their followers by making them feel so weak and helpless that they'd never dare to question or violate the religious laws. There were a lot of things she wanted to say to Ma'Ik just then, but she held her tongue. Her main concern now was to make sure his people would have a future in which to learn from their mistakes and hopefully get a better view of the world around them. 

"_Go back and get the Cha- the magic stones. Circumstances have changed. The demons are coming to destroy your people, and the magic stones are the only way to stop invasion._" 

I just hope someone in your tribe knows how to use them, Pia thought. 

"_But...I don't understand, the tribunal... The Gods would not allow the demons to-_" 

So terrified of saying the wrong thing, making the wrong move, doing anything to hurt his chances of getting into his tribe's version of heaven. Pia let him go on stuttering while she tried to figure out the best way to approach the matter. 

Suddenly Pia turned away from the green hedgehog and started talking loudly to empty air. 

"You can't understand anything I'm saying, so it really doesn't matter what I say right now! In a minute I'll tell you that I've spoken to the Gods, and have guaranteed you and your family a place in heaven. This is probably really blasphemous and incredibly tasteless, but right now I couldn't give a crap. I'm gonna get you to save the world whether you like it or not, kiddo! Honestly, I hate this religious shite. I really do." 

Ma'Ik listened in awe. The language of the Gods was so beautiful... 

- 

The Black Bull burst through the last barricade. The sharpened sticks Silver had stuck in there barely scratched its thick blubbery exterior. The huge alien inhaled, then spat out a huge fireball aimed directly at the white hedgehog. By accellerating his leap with his telekinesis, Silver barely managed to get away in time. Flames were too intangible for him to be able to catch or deflect with his powers, and any rocks or boulders he tried to throw at the Black Bull merely bounced off its hide. 

By the time Silver figured out that he could hurt the monstrosity by damaging its one big eye, it was too late. Hundreds of Black Arms soldiers were flooding over the destroyed barricade. The hedgehog had no choice but to make a run for it. 

Silver half-turned his head to see the nearest running soldier aim its laser pistol at him. It missed with the first shot, and never got to fire a second one, as an expertly thrown spear impaled the alien, leaving it to be trampled underneath its fellow soldiers. Now Silver noticed the rows of armed natives standing at the top of the large wooden fence surrounding the village. As he watched, the tribesmen threw their obsidian-tipped spears at the alien army. They'd probably be able to kill off a number of the smaller alien soldiers, but Silver doubted those primitive weapons would be any good once the Black Oak giants reached the perimeter along with the Black Bull that served as a living battering ram for the Black Arms. Not to mention all the winged aliens.

-

Pia didn't object to being carried on Ma'Ik's back as they raced back to the village with the Chaos Emeralds in possession. When they were close enough to see the bright flashes of purple caused by the Black Arms' laser weaponry, the hedgehog slowed down to a halt. 

"_No...!_" Ma'Ik uttered. 

Pia strained to see. "They've broken through the fence already? _Ma'Ik, there's no time to lose. You can run way faster than the demons can react with their light-shooting weapons._" 

"_But...my...Nole, Ra'Ik. I-I can't let the demons take them!_" 

Pia waved the sack containing the Emeralds in front of Ma'Ik's face. "_We have to get these to someone who can use them first. I'm sorry, but if we don't stop the demons here, they won't give up until they destroy the entire world._" 

Ma'Ik stared as if hypnotised at the sight of the black aliens pouring through the broken barrier. His house was close to where they'd broken through... 

"_NO!_" the green hedgehog shouted and threw his head back, throwing Pia off. 

Once she stopped tumbling, Pia reached for the sack, only for Ma'Ik to grab it and start running towards the village in a blur of speed. 

"You idiot! You'll ruin everything!" Pia yelled after him. After a long sigh, she added in a quiet voice "Who am I kidding? I'd have done the exact same thing. You were wrong, Dad. Some things are more important than duty - even the world." 

- 

Ma'Ik had never practiced the hedgehog spin-attack. Right now it didn't even occur to him to try something like that. Instead he used his speed to tackle any demons that got in his way. He kicked, punched, elbowed and bit with the desperate ferocity of someone who'd never learned how to fight. 

He got to his house, saw the door burnt to cinders, saw the Black Oak practically lifting the roof with its massive body, saw his wife cower in the corner with the baby in her arms. And then... 

...And then Ma'Ik looked behind him to see the dead giant fall over with a massive hole in its chest. He looked at his trembling family, and then at his fist painted black with alien innards. The magic stones were spilt out all over the floor. It seemed the sack had torn open from sheer pressure.

A Black Arms minion ran over the dead body of its fallen ally and shot the green hedgehog in the back. With a thin plume of smoke rising from the charred wound in Ma'Ik's back, the alien prepared to finish the job with the other two hedgehogs in range of fire... 

The purple laser hit a surface glowing with incredible energy. Ma'Ik turned around, and narrowed his eyes in anger. 

The projectile was thrown with such force that it toppled a dozen aliens caught in its path, and hit the ground so hard that it was impossible to tell what the black and green splatter had been. Out of the tiny shack that the alien had been thrown from emerged a being that gave the triumphant Black Arms pause, if only for the smallest second, before they all turned their weapons against the golden hedgehog whose spikes stood on end. It had about the same effect as trying to stop an erupting vulcano with a water pistol. 

Ma'Ik wasn't thinking anymore. All he knew was that he had to protect his family. He reacted, again and again, tearing through the demon army, destroying every vile creature in sight, killing anything that dared to threaten his loved ones. The Black Bull was one of the last alien creatures left of the invasion force. It breathed a huge flame, which hit Ma'Ik head-on. The Super hedgehog flew straight through the fire and the monster that breathed it as easily as empty air. 

- 

Pia found Silver lying half-conscious in the bushes near what was left of the great big fence. 

"Hey. Hey!" she shouted, giving her friend and father a few friendly slaps to the face. "You don't want to miss this!" 

She was right. Watching Ma'Ik, heh, Super Ma'Ik clean up the last of the Black Arms was about the coolest thing Silver had ever seen. He didn't mind saying so out loud, at which Pia laughed. 

"We'd better get over there," said Silver. "These people may need a bit of guidance for what's going to happen next." 

"Alright," said Pia without hesitation for once. 

Ma'Ik descended to the ground in the middle of the village. All around, the entire tribe was watching him from what they judged to be a safe distance. The glow faded from Ma'Ik's fur at the same time as his spikes descended to their normal position. There he stood, looking around somewhat awkwardly at the people he knew so well, who now looked at him with expressions mixed with fear and awe. Not even his own family dared approach him before Silver and Pia caught up with him. 

"_Pia! Silver! What happend to me? Where are the magic stones?_" said Ma'Ik urgently. Pia could tell right away that he was already dreading the consequences of losing the most prized treasures of his people. After a lifetime like his, change didn't come so easily. 

"_The magic stones are called 'Chaos Emeralds'. No one knows where they came from. For all we know, your Gods really did use them to create the world. Either way, they're gone now. Every time their full power is drawn out, the Emeralds are scattered throughout the world once they return to physical form. Maybe your people can find them again, or maybe not. All you need to know, is that you're not going to need them again. Now that the invaders know that the people of this world are strong enough to protect themselves, they won't dare try to conquer again for a very long time. Trust me._" 

"_I-I lost them? No! I have cursed my-_" Ma'Ik began. 

"_Oh, shut up,_" said Pia dismissively, then turned her attention towards the important-looking people standing at the entrance to the temple-like structure at the centre of the village. "_The Emeralds aren't trophies meant to be hoarded and locked away. They're tools, and Ma'Ik just used them in the best way possible. He just saved your people from certain doom, and if your Gods are really watching you, then I bet they'd be pretty upset if you didn't treat the saviour of all their followers with every bit of gratitude he deserves._ Silver, levitate a rock or something. That ought to impress the point on these folks." 

"I can do better than that," said Silver, and lifted Ma'Ik up into the air. 

On cue, the villagers all fell on their knees and bowed deeply. 

"I wonder how badly we just altered history," said Pia. 

"As long as Black Doom doesn't get any ideas, and this guy quits grovelling so darn much, it's all good," said Silver. 

- 

One day later. 

"_The tracks end here, Lady Pia,_" said the leader of the hunters, sniffing around beyond the pass at the end of Glyphic Canyon. 

When High Priest Ma'Ik wouldn't quit insisting that he should do something to repay the two travellers for all they'd done, Silver suggested that they might as well take advantage of what you didn't need advanced technology to become a master at. Neither of them knew the first thing about following tracks, but the hunters who supplied meat and furs for the village were experts. They followed a trail that seemed invisible to Silver and Pia's eyes, and managed to keep it in sight even through vast stretches of territory that'd been pounded on by massive aliens only a day earlier. Finally, they were here. The precise point where Dr. Pretorious had left this time period. 

After the lengthy goodbyes, Silver looked up at the temple structures the Black Arms had been building, and had failed to complete before being interrupted by the possibility of Chaos Emeralds. 

"Hmmm. You know, it wasn't that well put together in Shadow's time either, was it? All those walkways leading to gaps of empty space. Buildings that open up to nowhere. Dead ends all over the place. I don't think anyone's gonna notice the difference until Eggman blows up the flying ruins with his fleet." 

"I thought it was Shadow who destroyed the power cores in the temples?" said Pia without looking up from her work. 

"Ah, I don't remember. Either way, it didn't stay airborne for long. Funny. It's going to sit there for two thousand years only to spend barely a day doing what it was designed for." 

"..." 

"Pia?" 

"Got it!" the orange cat exclaimed. "Dr. Pretorious has gone twelve hundred years further back in time. I guess he's just going further and further back each trip. He probably doesn't even know what he ended up doing to the future." 

"Let's go get him, then!" 

- 

_In the next chapter:  
- A new episode begins.  
- Another familiar setting.  
- Let's see what Dr. Pretorious has been up to since last we saw him._


	16. Chaos Cries

**Chapter 15: Chaos Cries**

April 28th, 1205BC. Echidna capital of the Mystic Lands. 

- 

Ironic. To think that the very heart of pre-Chaos Echidna civilisation would be one of the safest places on Earth for an outsider such as I to visit. They are a noble people under the rule of Naira the Echidna, valuing skills of art equally to the skills of war. Truly, this great civilisation could've lasted beyond the age it culminated within, if only if had been spared the greed and corruption of Naira's son: Pachacamac. 

It is very interesting to note, that in spite of the fact that the ancient echidnas built their capital city around the site of the Emerald Altar, they have no knowledge of the origin or nature of the precious stones. They are not aware of the subtle effect that the Emeralds' presence has had on their development across the generations, and they do not understand the catastrophic potential presented before them. The barrier surrounding the Altar was created by the previous civilisation that held their power. It seems nothing remains in this time period as evidence of their existence, beyond the Emeralds themselves. 

As I said, this is a safe place. The echidnas were more than happy to offer temporary shelter to a wanderer, especially after recieving that lovely silver trinket I prepared for this occasion. It's synthetic silver alloy, but as expected, these people can't tell the difference. 

I've been here about a day so far. Long enough to pick up on the local gossip. It's convenient that this city and its people will be all but annihilated in a few years time, leaving no witnesses around to tell of my presence. Ah, except for Tikal, of course. I've seen the girl. I would say she's about eight years old at this time. I would worry about her, but I already know quite well from history which specific memories she chose to share with Sonic, Knuckles and their allies. I'll be long gone before the first of those events begins. 

This should be another brief trip, provided all the data gathered from my previous escapades proves accurate. Tomorrow, it will be three years since Pachacamac's wife passed away. He will attend the grand feast, and at some point he will apply a considerable dose of poison to his mother's meal. None the wiser, she will depart afterwards to visit her dear secret friend at the Emerald Altar. I don't know how long it will take for her to expire. That poison was meant for hunting, not for ravaging an intelligent echidna's constitution. Regardless, at some point before dawn she will die at the steps of the Emerald Altar. It will give her chao friend the motivation to finally attempt to draw complete affinity from all seven Emeralds, in order to amplify the natural healing powers of chao kind. The attempt to save Naira will fail, but Chaos will be born. 

Timing will be of the essence. I need to sample Chaos's form before the transformation is complete. Studying contemporary chao have given me the reason to believe that the creature will first enter its cocoon stage, as during normal chao's maturity process. Extracting a usable sample at that stage is likely the best way. 

Doctor Trevor K. Pretorious

- 

There was a beautiful red sunset that evening. 

Naira was an orange-furred echidna, like her granddaughter, who'd inherited a great deal of her looks. With that expression of benign intelligence, she could pass for an older adult version of Tikal in a heartbeat. 

The chief's confident steps lead her towards and straight through the invisible barrier that surrounded the shrine located beyond the tunnel that ran from the capital city. She knew that the barrier was created by the sacred fountain that surrounded the Controller. Oil canisters and flaming arrows would be all that was necessary to destroy the barrier, which was why no one could ever know the truth. Even her son had begun to hunger for the power of the Seven Chaos. Naira wished she had not taught him the secrets of the shrine, but he had shown such great promise before that tragic day when his wife passed away. Now, all of Naira's hopes rested with her granddaughter; Tikal. 

Most of the chao living around the shrine were asleep at this hour, except for one. A chao with a darker than average shade of blue ran up to the echidna, making happy noises. 

"_My dear Blossom. So good to see you,_" said Naira, picking up the chao. 

A fair distance away, Dr. Pretorious adjusted the button for the receptor lodged in his ear. Did she just call the future destroyer of the world..._Blossom_? 

Chao have no gender. Or they have both. Impossible to be certain, with the biological make-up of the chao being unlike any other creature on Earth. Their closest living relative, according to modern chaologists, was the jellyfish, and yet their entire anatomy was still worlds apart. What little could be ascertained was that any chao could mate with any chao, suggesting that they were hermaphrodites. The reason it was a suggestion rather than a fact, was that no one could manage to find any specific gender traits whatsover. Measuring hormones wouldn't work, because chao didn't have any. Checking chromosomes wouldn't work, because, again, chao didn't have any. By all reason, the chao species shouldn't exist, yet it did - all over the world. 

The question Pretorious was asking himself was this: Did Naira know more or less than modern chaologists? Could it be that Chaos the God of Destruction...was female? Hmmm. If a chao could adopt any trait whatsoever, then why not gender as well? They might start out completely neutral, but they always adapted to their owner and environment over time. 

Dr. Pretorious set that train of thought aside. He had more important things to consider right now, like how soon the Echidna Chief would be showing signs of her impending death. 

"_Tikal is showing greater promise than my reckless son ever did. Very soon, I may bring her here to meet you, Blossom. I am certain that already today she would be able to pass through the barrier, but although physically able, she still needs to gain maturity and understanding so that she can truly appreciate the importance and fragility of this holy place._" 

"Chao!" 

"_Yes, of course. I've been teaching her the poem we came up with since she was born. When the time comes, it will help her communicate with the Controller. She may not realise that the power to exert direct control over the precious Emeralds already lies within her, within all of our people. I have worked so hard to teach them to look inside themselves for answers, yet now I fear that all my work will be undone once my son rises to power._" 

"Chao?" 

"_I don't know. I suspect his spirit died along with his wife that day. Since then he has become obsessed with the teachings of war. He plots to invade our neighbours and steal their lands. As leader of our people, I should strip away his power and banish him to where he can do no harm. Yet...he is still my son._" 

"Chao...Naja." 

"_Do not worry, Blossom. I would never... I... I feel odd._" 

That took less time than Pretorious had expected. That poison was only meant for paralyzing prey, not killing it outright and filling its meat with foul taint. Pachacamac must've used an absolutely excessive amount. 

The next surprise was how very long it took for Cha- Blossom to realise what she could do. Over fifteen minutes, the chao spent hovering over her patron's still body, weeping and shouting. Rather sad. By the time the chao climbed the Master Emerald and let the power of the seven surrounding Emeralds flow into her gelatinous body, Naira had already gone where no amount of healing could restore her. 

Pretorious turned the dial for the zoom function of his glasses up another notch. Was it...? Yes! Blossom had just entered a cocoon. Time was of the essence! 

The raccoon got out from behind the big rock and ran as fast as he could across the grass plain toward the Emerald Altar. His method of getting through the invisible barrier was very tasteless, even in his own opinion. He picked up Naira's body and carried her over his shoulder, forcing his way through as the barrier opened for her. Then he as carefully as possible rolled the body back to where it had lain. 

Dr. Pretorious examined the cocoon situated atop the Master Emerald for a moment, before pulling out a syringe. Very carefully he pushed the needle through membrane, and pulled on the syringe until its container filled with clear blue substance. 

Perfect! One sample of pure untainted Chaos to match his piece of the negatively corrupted Chaos. It should do the trick when the time came. 

"Hold, Pretorious!" said an all too familiar voice. 

The raccoon turned away from the Master Emerald to see, yes once again, his nemesis and her young father mucking around where they had no business being. 

Dr. Pretorious sighed while he put away the second sample. "I thought I was finally rid of you two," he said. "I suppose I should've known better." 

"You're not getting away this time," said Silver, rushing forward only to get thrown back as soon as he hit the invisible barrier. 

"Damn, of course. How the hell did you get through?" Pia asked defiantly. 

"That's my little secret," Pretorious answered. "I doubt you 'heroes' would ever figure it out, but since I obviously can't trust you two to know your own good and stay out of my way, I'm going to throw you a bone. October 2nd, 2051BC, Glyphic Canyon. That's where and when you'll find me next. It's a time period history knows absolutely nothing about, except... Well. I wouldn't want to give too much away as I've done far too often, but you may want to ask yourselves if the name 'Gizoid' sounds familiar." 

Before Silver or Pia could stop him, Pretorious activated his time portal once again, and disappeared. 

"We can't possibly trust him, can we?" said Silver, cautiously prodding the barrier with his foot. 

"I don't know. He would't just send us to some random point in time just to get rid of us," said Pia thoughtfully. "If I know Dr. Pretorious, he's given us the real time-space location we need, but of course he's got some trick up his sleeve for once we arrive. He likes to play games with his enemies, and he likes to watch it happen. He'll be there, I'm sure of it." 

"If you say so... Does 'Gizoid' mean anything to you? It sounds kinda familiar, but I can't remember where it's from." 

"Ancient battle droid recovered and rebuilt by professor Gerald Robotnik. Estimated to be about four thousand years old at the time of recovery. Put in storage until recovered by Dr. Eggman, who subsequently lost the robot to Sonic and his friends. Powered by Chaos Emeralds, programmed to automatically replicate combat skills, knowledge and personality fragments. Ancient master program activated upon giving the robot all seven Chaos Emeralds. The Gizoid nearly destroyed the world, but Sonic stopped it at the last second. As far as I can remember, anyway." 

"Wow. So, that means Pretorious has gone to the time period when that battle droid was built. He must be after somthing that its creators had." 

"Yes, and I think we're going to be heading into greater danger than we've seen so far. What Pretorious said is true; almost nothing is known about that ancient civilisation, but if they could build something like the Gizoid, they must've had amazing technology and possession of the Chaos Emeralds." 

"What are you saying?" 

"I'm saying that these if these people got their hands on our time travel technology, they might actually be able to understand and reproduce it. About the only thing known for sure about these people is that they were destroyed by their own creations. If we're not careful, their civilisation won't be the only one bumped back to the stone age." 

"No pressure, huh?" 

"None." 

- 

After the other time travellers had gone, a little girl emerged from the tunnel leading to the Altar. 

"_Grandmother?_" said Tikal. 

- 

_In the next chapter:  
- A much, MUCH longer episode. Way longer than one single chapter, anyway.  
- Pretorious, Pia and Silver find themselves in the land of the Gi.  
- Gizoid. Plural.._


	17. Absolution's End part one

**Chapter 16: Absolution's End (Part One)**

Silver and Pia reappeared in the middle of a flat plain. If this was Glyphic Canyon, then... No, this couldn't be Glyphic Canyon. For one thing, there was no canyon. This flat turf extended as far as the eye could see. 

"I think you sent us to the wrong place," said Silver looking around. 

"That's odd," said Pia, looking over the read-out on her heads-up display. "I used the point from the last time we were here to calculate a location near the edge of the canyon top. Maybe continental drifting has-" 

Pia stopped when she saw before her very eyes, a sight that didn't belong anywhere before the twentieth century. The shimmering of light as the little yellow robot de-cloaked was every bit as out-of-place as the robot itself. The yellow and orange robot looked unarmed, but Pia didn't underestimate it, as she recognised it from the picture she'd seen years ago. The only difference between the droid standing in front of her, and the one Sonic had encountered was that this model lacked the third eye in its forehead. 

"Silver, it's the Gizoid," said Pia, no taking her eyes off the immobile robot. 

"Which one?" she heard Silver respond. 

Pia blinked and looked around. She'd been staring so intently at the first one, that she hadn't seen the other Gizoids appearing all around them, at various distances, and closing in slowly. 

"Wait, how can-?" she began. "There was only supposed to be one of these, wasn't there? The one that destroyed the 'Fourth Great Civilisation'." 

"History got it wrong!" came an all too familiar voice from close by. 

Dr. Pretorious and two others de-cloaked behind the line of Gizoids. Pretorious wasn't wearing his trademark gentleman's suit anymore, but had donned some kind of golden outfit that looked like a cross between a space suit and a Roman army officer's uniform. The clear blue button on his chest looked like the same material that the Gizoids' eyes were made from. The two fox animaloids standing beside him were wearing the same kind of clothing, but less ornamental, as if he was some kind of superior to them. 

"Professor Gerald was a fool," said Pretorious, looking more serious than usual. "The three 'Great Civilisations' he compared this one to were nothing but primitive tribes of no consequence to the grand scope of history. THIS, this is the FIRST Great Civilisation of Earth! The word Gizoid doesn't mean 'everything', it means 'every tool'. Yes, the tools of the Gi - 'The One and the All'. The foolish Gerald focused so much on the weapon capacities of the Gizoid he discovered. He assumed that just because it had collected data of primitive weapons, it must also be the product of a primitive society. It never occurred to him that the reason his Gizoid was available to be discovered was because it had been thrown away before the fall of the Gi. It was a failure, and it had nothing to do with the destuction of this civilisation." 

"How long have you been here, Pretorious?" Pia asked, ignoring the rant. "You went back to a point well before that date you gave us, didn't you? More than enough time to get nice and friendly with these people. You don't even care about the past anymore, do you?" 

"I take offense at that accusation," Pretorious answered. "Yes, I've been living here for well over a month now, and yes I've made myself a valuable member of their society. But don't think I didn't consider every single hazard before embarking on this grand journey across time. This isn't my first visit. It took me over two years of my life just to decode the language of the Gi, so that I could communicate. A universal translator device is quite useless if no one has ever recorded the spoken language. The pictograms that Gerald deciphered were next to useless." 

"Planning on getting to the point anytime in the next hour?" Pia interrupted. 

"Frankly, no. I wish to give you a lovely tour of the Gi civilisation before I have you both put to death. It's important that someone from the timeline that WAS understands the grandness of my work." 

"What did you say?" Silver burst out. "You're just like Metal Sonic, after all!" 

"Oh please. That robot's master objective was to kill one hedgehog and then install itself as ruler of an enslaved universe. My goal is far more noble. I am going to correct the greatest mistake of all history, and guide man and animal kind to the greatness they are destined for. Can you imagine how far our society would have advanced if this amazing civilisation had not been lost? Ten thousand years of technological evolution surround you. I will not allow it all to be lost! One malfunctioning relic will not be the only evidence left behind of the greatest culture Earth has ever seen." 

"So this is the end of your journey? You were heading to this time all along? Why did you bother to stop up in all those different time periods between here and the present?" Pia asked. 

"You assume too much. The chain of events that will lead to the destruction of the Gi has already been set in motion, and I cannot stop it. It is an event that is necessary for the balance and survival of this planet, I'm afraid. No, this is not my final destination. As before, I sought a trinket from this time period, in order to ensure my success in harnessing the power of the Chaos Core. Once done, I can save the Gi. I can ensure a new timeline that leads to a golden utopia of peace and undertanding of all things." 

"You can't be sure of that," said Silver. "Do you know that just by being seen at Glyphic Canyon in the first century, you caused a timeline where the Black Arms conquered Earth?" 

Pretorious shrugged. "Even if that were true, what of it? Once my work is done, it will no longer be a concern. The Black Arms were no match for the Gi the first time they attempted to invade this planet. What, did you think only one Black Comet has visited Earth in the past? No. The Gi destroyed the first one, and would certainly have dealt with the second one if they had survived." 

"That's not a chance we're willing to take, Dr. Pretorious," said Pia, glaring at her long-time enemy. "Whatever you're after here, we'll stop you from getting anywhere near it." 

"Sorry, didn't I say? I've already finished. The only reason I haven't yet departed for my final destination is the troubling fact that you two are still alive. Your constant leaps across time save you from being uncreated by the temporal distortion waves caused by our shared activities across history. By all logic, your father should be dead, and you should never have been born. Yet here you are. Even I don't fully comprehend the matter. If your lives are evidence that I will ultimately fail, then the reasonable thing to do is to kill you both before proceeding to the final phase." 

The heroes tensed for battle, looking around at the Gizoids. 

"What? I didn't mean right now," said Pretorious, cocking an eye brow. "No, no. My method is far more elaborate. Silver A is a wild-card, kept safe by the existence of a predestination featuring Silver B. I intend to force the time loop closed. As long as I can keep Pia staying put at one point in time long enough for the distortion wave to take her, she should cease to exist the instant our Silver A _becomes_ Silver B." 

The two looked at each other. 

"But that can wait," Pretorious continued, revealing his normal smiling attitude. "As I said before, it is fitting that the last two survivors of a soon-to-be-erased timeline appreaciate the wonders of this place. Your testimonius will make wonderful contributions to my work. My work as an author, I mean. Once the rewriting of history is complete, no one but I will have any memory of what was before. It MUST be documented, and some words from those who do not fully share my point of view should provide a valuable addition to the book." 

"You're insane," said Pia. 

"Genius is often described as such. Let's be honest, I AM a psychopath. I cannot feel true empathy. Sad. But my nature helps me understand the things that are more important than individual lives. A sentimental fool could not have accomplished all that I have, and all that I will. It's really more of an aid than a handicap, when you think about it." 

While Pia tore her enemy a new one, verbally, Pretorious said something to his fox associates, who in turn barked out some instructions. The Gizoids immediatelly stopped merely standing around menacingly, and closed in on Silver and Pia. 

"Aheeheeheeheehee!!" Dr. Pretorious laughed. 

-

_In the next chapter:  
- The grand civilisation of the Gi.  
- The grand escape-proof cells of the Gi.  
- Oh come on, they can't block time travel, can they? __They can? Of the Gi._


	18. Absolution's End part two

_((Crystal the Ferret is the property of Tanman. Used with permission.))_

**Chapter 17: Absolution's End (Part Two)**

The weaponry capabilities of the Gizoid that professor Gerald had discovered had only included data on primitive weapons like spears, swords, daggers, javelins, big pointy rocks, and so on. The Gizoids that captured Silver and Pia were far more advanced. You'd have to go as far as the twenty-second century at least to find a ranged stun gun powerful and sophisticated enough to send its targets into deep sleep instantly and with no nerve damage. 

Pia wasn't even aware that one of the robots had converted its hand into something resembling a wide-barrelled pistol, before she awoke on the floor of the cell. On the other side of the cell, seperated by a semi-transparent forcefield, lay Silver. 

The Temporal Protectorate agent rubbed her eyes. The shock hadn't entered her mind just yet. First she spent half a minute staring at her hand, wondering what was out of place. 

Silver awoke to the sound of swearing. His first sight was the gilded walls of the cells. It was so excessively lavish that his sleepy self wondered for a second if he'd wound up in heaven. Oh, wait, there wouldn't be an audible string of nasty swearwords then, would there? 

"-ammit! Those dastards took it! No, it must've been Pretorious - they wouldn't know how to find the opening. God, that creep touching me while I'm out. Argh, I'm gonna kill him!" Pia finished. 

"What?" said Silver. 

"My Jumpsuit! They! Took! My! JUMPSUIT!!" Pia screamed. Her orange fur was flaming red now. Whether she noticed the fire dancing around her or not was hard to tell. 

"What!? You mean we're stuck here?" 

"I'm such an idiot! I should've jumped to a different time the instant all those Gizoids appeared, instead of just standing around. GRAH!!" 

With that last outburst, Pia threw a roaring ball of fire into the gold-tinted rock wall of the cell. Instead of detonating, the fireball rebounded like it was made of rubber. Pia watched the flames bounce around for a bit, until she caught it and dispersed the flame. 

There was more to this prison than met the eye. 

"Calm down, Pia," said Silver. "I'm sure you've been in tighter spots than this before. I know I have." 

The cat sat down on the floor, breathing out a frustrated sigh. 

They waited for a while. The corridor outside the cells was empty. No one seemed in any hurry to check up on them. Silver spent a couple of minutes testing the walls and the forcefields with his power, trying to find some weakness, but it was no use. Whoever these Gi people were, they obviously were used to dealing with above-average prisoners. 

"Pia?" Silver said suddenly, breaking the silence. 

"What is it, Silver?" Pia responded, looking up slightly from where she sat hugging her knees. 

"Who is your mother?" 

Pia gave a humourless laugh. "You already know the answer to that question," she said. 

"Are we..." Silver was clearly having trouble getting the words out, and Pia, who could tell what he was about to ask, wasn't going to help him. "Are Blaze and I good parents?" he finally managed to get out. 

Pia stared at he father for a little too long before finally answering "No." 

"Oh..." 

The cat looked away. "Some things are more important than going off to save the world all the time, Dad. Being there for your kid when she needs you would be one. I know you applied for the post as leader of the Temporal Protectorate only because you knew I would join. Being there as my boss doesn't really make up for being abscent nearly my entire childhood." 

"I'm...sorry," was all Silver could think to say. 

"You remember that. It'll actually count for something if you can manage that amount of sincerity in about twenty years." Pia sighed. "Assuming we both survive this mess." 

Silver wasn't satisfied, even though he was afraid to learn more. "What about Blaze? Is she doing alright?" 

"I guess. Haven't spoken to her in a month. She isn't as obsessive about making up for lost time as you are, will be. Hmmm. I guess... You know, as annoying as your stupid attempts to make things right are, it would be nice if she did the same, once in a while." 

"So...you mean Blaze and me aren't together anymore?" 

"You're comrades in arms, I guess you could say. If you two were more than that even while you were married, I can't tell. Honestly, it's a miracle you two even got around to concieving me. Aunt Connie spent more time raising me than she did, or you. Heh. I'm sure I'm the only kid in history who can claim to have had their lullaby sung by Shadow the Hedgehog." 

Silver had never imagined a guilt trip like this before. He felt like hunting down his future self across time and yelling at him until he was hoarse. It was selfish, but right now he wished he'd never asked at all. The hilarious thought of Shadow trying to sing couldn't budge that kind of depressing foreshadowing. 

The white hedgehog stood up, wearing an expression of anger reserved for himself. He had more of a reason to reach the end of this adventure now than before. Saving himself from being killed, stopping Pretorious from permanently rewriting history, and getting them all home was just the first step. The real challenge was going to be traversing his own life and stopping himself from making those horrible mistakes. No time travel would be involved in the real work of changing history for the better. 

"Pia," said Silver. 

"What is it now, Ghost of Christmas Past?" she answered, smiling weakly. 

"I'm gonna get it right this time. I promise." 

"Wow, NOW you sound like the Silver I know. The mustache look doesn't work for you, by the way." 

"Mustache?" 

- 

I had first thought to give Silver my nemesis's time travel suit, so he might return to his own time and complete the time loop. That would of course have been a terrible error of judgement. The Jumpsuit is impervious to the weapon I used to kill Silver B. The hedgehog would only need to carry a pellet of synthetic blood with him to cause the illusion of death while at the same time escaping the loop alive. No, this needs careful planning. I am certain that Silver A will be trying to figure out a way to cheat death himself. Should he succeed, then I lose the certainty of success. 

No, I will instead use my own time travel device to send him directly to his own time moments before the predestination occurs. With no means to traverse time, he should accept the futility of it all and sacrifice himself to save his past self, as I witnessed myself at the beginning of this delightful adventure. If Silver B fails to save Silver A, then I win regardless, though the change of history wherein I traverse time without anyone in pursuit may cause some unpredictable effects. It is a risk worth taking. The anti-displacement field generator is functioning perfectly, rendering me completely immune to the effects of temporal distortion waves. The same cannot be said for my enemies, aheeheehee! 

Doctor Trevor K. Pretorious

- 

Finally someone arrived. It was a female ferret animaloid dressed in a short skirt and a tube top, both made from the same kind of golden material that Pretorious and those foxes had been wearing. Two crystalline blue buttons and extra decoration suggested that this was a very high ranking official indeed. The warthog and the wolf following her had "grunt" written all over them, and no blue buttons at all on their golden uniforms. 

The Gi, apparently, were really obsessed with gold. Silver wondered if this place was the fabled lost city of gold mentioned in so many legends. It seemed highly plausible. El Dorado of the Gi, huh? 

The ferret said something in a commanding tone, and gestured with a shoo'ing motion. Silver got the hint and stepped away from the forcefield. Smiling coyly, the ferret passed a piece of paper through the field, as easily as anything. Maybe the barrier could only be traversed in one direction. Clever. The ferret girl said something else as Silver bent over to pick up the paper. 

"I think she just complimented your behind," said Pia. 

"Nah." 

The note was written in fancy curly writing, probably Pretorious's, and read: "I hope you're not becoming too impatient. Arranging for two outsiders to be allowed access to this grand metropolis is quite tricky, and may take me another day of negotiations with the Zera-Gi, whom I suppose you might call the emperor of this civilisation. In the meantime, you may ask warden Crizal for anything you desire, within reason. I've written out a few useful phrases, phonetically of course, in case you get hungry or thirsty or in need of companionship." 

"Companionship?" Silver said aloud. 

The ferret winked. Silver blushed. 

"Guess it's true what they say about ancient civilisations being a lot more free-spirited," said Pia, who could read well between lines, and had been looking over Silver's shoulder through the forcefield between hers and Silver's cell while he read. 

"Oh yeah? What would you prefer, wolf or warthog?" Silver countered, trying and failing to play cool in the face of overwhelming embarrasment. 

"Why, something wrong with the ferret?" Pia answered back. 

Silver couldn't tell if she was teasing or not, and decided not to press the point. He'd had more than enough surprises for one day. 

- 

_In the next chapter:  
- More exposition.  
- More character development.  
- Some kind of plot twist.  
- (There, now that should be a promise easy to keep no matter what I think of between this chapter and the next.)_


	19. Absolution's End part three

**Chapter 18: Absolution's End (Part Three)**

"Giozaz, city of the Gi. Underground city comprised of over a million animaloids of various species. The Gi's arms have always been open to outsiders with sufficient potentia, demanding only one condition. No one over the age of three may join the Gi, and the child may never return to his or her former home. Don't misunderstand me. The Gi are not kidnappers. Generations of children have been willingly given away, in the certain knowledge that they would lead better lives here - safer lives. Perhaps you are wondering why there are no humans here?" 

Dr. Pretorious spoke as he lead the group along the finely furnished corridors. Silver and Pia were fitted with strange handcuffs that somehow diminished their powers, and they were escorted by four guards, including the wolf and the warthog they'd seen before, plus a pair of Gizoids. Pretorious had made it clear when he arrived that morning that he would've preferred less excessive security, but that the Zera Gi had demanded that much as a minimum before he'd allow the two outsiders to take even one step into the heart of the golden metropolis. 

"Alright, I'll bite," said Pia. "Why are there no humans?" 

"The answer is simple. Humans lack the potential that the Gi hold so highly. Have you ever heard of a supersonic human? A psycho-kinetic human? A human able to achieve a Super form, maybe? Of course not. Maybe a human possessed by some divine or otherwise supernatural entity might be able to wield the power of the Chaos Emeralds, but an ordinary homo-sapiens? The very idea is ridiculous." 

"So these people know a lot about the Chaos Emeralds, then?" Silver asked, interested despite his hatred for Pretorious. 

It took a while for their guide's laughter to subside. By that time, they passed the first window they'd seen since they arrived in this place. 

"Know about them? They CREATED the Chaos Emeralds!" Pretorious boasted, gesturing widely towards the view. 

He hadn't been joking. An underground city of absolutely fantastic scale and wonder, lit from above by enough lights lining the cavernous ceiling to imitate the brightest day anywhere on Earth. The structure Pretorious was indicating was two twin towers, one stretching from the ground so far below they couldn't hope to make out the people walking the streets down there - the other extending from ceiling nearly a mile above. Where the two towers met, they converged at a single tiny point where a light as bright as the sun glowed green. Silver and Pia's eyes followed Pretorious's index finger to the second twin towers, wrapped in a blue glow. Then yellow, and red. Through the window at the other side of the corridor that was clearly little more than a tube extending between towering structures, they could see more twin towers; orange, purple and azure. 

"The white tower is a little hard to see from here," said Pretorious helpfully. "Converting the natural energy radiated from the Chaos Emeralds into electrical power is the easiest use of the Emeralds there is, as I'm sure you know. More than enough power to support this city and its robotic legion - the Gizoids." 

"Wait, that was eight. There are only seven Chaos Emeralds," said Silver, whose lips had clearly been moving while he watched the impressive view. "There's not supposed to be an orange one." 

"In your ignorance, you've made a very profound statement, Silver," said Pretorious smiling like a school teacher faced with a dim-witted student who'd just defied all expectations and produced a passable assignment. "You're right. There's not supposed to be an eighth orange Chaos Emerald. The Gi will soon discover that fact with catastrophic results. Seven Emeralds creates a perfect balance of power, preventing any possibility of overflow. Eight Emeralds creates a terrible unbalance. The scientists of the Gi have been fighting a losing battle against that very unbalance for centuries, foolishly believing they succeeded in achieving a safe balance approximately twenty years before this date. Their error will result in the destruction of their civilisation, the permanent loss of the eighth Chaos Emerald, and the safe alignment of an unbalance that might over time come to threaten the very survival of life on this planet as we know it." 

"Have you told them that?" Pia asked, nodding towards the native guards. 

"No. It would cause unnecessary pandemonium if the impending catastrophe should be known. The Zera Gi and his nearest know the truth, because I told them myself. The only way to save my life was to tell him the complete and honest truth. After a few demonstrations of my time travel device, I gained his full confidence. Well, as much as he would ever be able to give, I suppose. The Zera Gi wouldn't trust his own mother if she told him the sky was blue." 

"What about the Master Emerald? Did they create that, too?" said Silver, still not taking his eyes off the window. 

"'Create' is the wrong word, though apt for dramatic effect. It would be more true to say that the Gi found the unique mineral substance and carved nine gems from it. Eight fashioned from the outer layer, and one from the heart of it." 

"The heart of what?" 

"I could tell you, since neither of you will live to witness my ultimate destination, but I won't. Sorry. Aheeheehee. Ahem, shall we continue the tour?" 

The tube from the cell complex lead to a monolith-like building near the largest structure in the entire city. Pretorious declared it to be main transport terminal. Storage and delivery of all the goods and supplies necessary for the daily upkeep of Gizoaz. 

"This is just the nearest place to access proper hovercraft transportation," said Pretorious dismissively. "It would take far too long to travel across the city on foot." 

The view from the tube was nothing compared to the sight of Gizoaz seen from a hovertram in transit. Silver was glued to the window all the way, and even Pia had to admit that the place was awe-striking for its time. It was like looking down at Central City back in the present, her present, well either one, really. It had to be some kind of synthetic alloy. There couldn't be that much gold in the world, unless- 

Pia thought about Glyphic Canyon. She was sure she'd gotten the coordinates right. There was no canyon now because it didn't exist yet. This underground city, the chasm it would leave behind after its destruction would be the canyon itself. Pretorious must've been after something left behind when he visited this same place in Ma'Ik's time, but what? 

The thing Pretorious ultimately sought was connected to the Chaos Emeralds. He'd pretty much said it. Could he have discovered the true origin of the Emeralds? What was that he said before about something called the 'Chaos Core'? He wasn't going to prevent the Gi from being destroyed, because the destruction of the eighth Emerald was important in order to maintain the stability of the world, right, yet he sounded so sure with that thing, that Chaos Core, he'd be able to save this civilisation anway. Pretorious had planned this, all of it: The disaster on Angel Island, the infiltration of Eggman's base, navigating Glyphic Canyon under the Black Arms' noses, messing with the birth of Chaos, and all the way to whatever he'd already accomplished in this time. He'd been planning ahead every step of the way, mapping out the events of history and planning how to circumvent them and use them to his advantage. If it wasn't for us chasing after him, and that whole Black Doom conquest fiasco, his plans would've all succeeded perfectly. He's insane, sure, but he's an insane genius. He'll succeed if we don't stop him. This shaky history we've got has had WAY too many close calls to risk letting a complete rewrite get on the tracks. There might not be a Sonic the Hedgehog kind of character around to put things right the second time around. 

"Blaze, look at this!" Silver exclaimed. 

"What is i- Did you just call me Bla- Whoa!!" After two false starts, Pia settled for an expression of genuine astonishment. 

There was a group of five cats doing acrobatics in the air, balanced on the very flames they generated as they moved. No wonder Silver had called her by the wrong name. Even she couldn't help but think of her mother as she watched the feline animaloids play around high above the rooftops of the communal buildings. This was just...impossible. She knew her mother had been a rarity. That was why she'd been picked on so much as a child. Pia would probably have experienced the same if she hadn't turned things around in the school yard and sent the bullies crying instead. 

Pretorious didn't need to look. "If the Gi had survived," he said, "pyrokinetics would be far more common throughout the world. I'm sure the schools would be more adapted to suit them as well, wouldn't you, Pia? Less chance of...'accidents'." 

The cat snapped. Before Silver knew what was happening, the Gizoid standing guard beside where the two sat was wrestling Pia to the floor. She was screaming obscenities at Pretorious. Silver understood right away that the villain had mentioned something that struck a painful nerve with Pia. 

Although he didn't know what it was all about, Silver wanted just as much to teach Pretorious a serious lesson, but what could he do? He'd never been much good at plain old brawl-type fighting without his powers, and with these dang handcuffs on he could barely lift a pebble with his mind. 

Pretorious said something in the Gi's language. It sounded like a calming command. The Gizoid dropped Pia back in her seat, and stood close, but didn't make any futher aggressive movements. The other Gizoid stepped closer, just in case. 

- 

While I was studying my Nemesis's profile some years ago, I was surprised to learn that she once made an attempt to alter history herself. Her father being the captain of the force was likely the only reason that she was not permanently expelled and imprisoned for the crime. It is an interesting oddity. She of all people should appreciate time is mutable for a reason. Terrible mistakes should be corrected. Disasters should be averted. Deaths should be prevented, if possible...and necessary. 

Doctor Trevor K. Pretorious (Discarded entry) 

- 

_In the next chapter:  
- To the other end of the time loop.  
-  
-_


	20. Absolution's End part four

**Chapter 19: Absolution's End (Last Part)**

Half an hour before Pretorious fetched the prisoners from their cells... 

"Silver? Silver, are you awake?" 

"Hrm...?" went Silver, forcing an eye open. It'd taken him far too many hours after the lights went out to manage to calm himself enough to fall asleep. 

"If...we get seperated somehow, and you end up going back to the future without me, then there's a few things you need to know about." 

Silver sat, stretched and yawned. "Don't be silly, Pia," he said. "How could I go back without you? You're the one with the time machi- Oh yeah, they took it. Either way, I'd never leave you behind." 

"Hear me out," said Pia, leaning against the forcefield seperating their cells. "Your apartment, when Pretorious shot you, the other you, that wasn't the first time I met...you." 

"What do you mean?" Silver asked, trying to keep up. 

"I tracked Pretorious to his lair in my time. Once I got inside, I was attacked by a really nasty robot. It nearly got me, except I was saved by someone who looked exactly as you do. Same age, same lack of clothes, same everything. It was you. And you, he, knew me. He talked like he knew everything that was going to happen. And...he knew things about me that I've never told anyone else. Things not even my father knows. Well, NOW he knows, but I'm sure he didn't before this confusing mess started." 

Pia told Silver everything she remembered from the encounter. He was nice enough not to offer any follow-up questions when she told him the thing she wished the other him hadn't known. She could definitely live without seeing that expression when he heard it, though. 

- 

"And what do you think of that, my friends?" Pretorious asked at the end of his speech. 

Dr. Pretorious hadn't been joking about his literary ambitions, it seemed. He spent easily as much time questioning the pair for their views as he did showing off the marvels of the Gi civilisation. When at first it was clear Pia wasn't going to cooperate, he even produced the most sincere apology he could muster for inadvertently tearing open old wounds with his ill-gotten knowledge of her life. When that didn't work, he threatened to have the Gizoids administer a moderate amount of physical punishment. To Silver. That worked to get Pia to respond. 

Pia was distracted by her loathing for the situation of being so close to Dr. Pretorious without being able to deliver his just desserts, but Silver couldn't help get swept up by the sheer fascination for this amazing city. Pretorious seemed to enjoy his enthusiasm, and happily answered every question the white hedgehog had. 

"And what's that building down there?" Silver asked, again, as the luxurious transportation vehicle carried the group on their way to the next point of interest on Pretorious's tour. 

"Ah, that would be the main centre for Research & Development," Pretorious responded. "At the moment the laboratories must be experiencing an unusual flurry of activity, as the Gi's best and brightest attempt to learn the secrets of our dear Temporal Protectorate agent's time travel Jumpsuit. There is very little chance that the tinkering scientists will succeed in unraveling the workings of the device before the catastrophe that will destroy the Gi, but best of luck to them. Do not worry, my fellows from the future. I will get rid of that Jumpsuit in time for the rerouting of history. Once the Gi's future is secured, there will be no need for time travel devices to be readily available until they become a fact of natural technological evolution. Whatever you may think of me, I do respect the the hazards of unnecessary tampering with time. It is hardly hypocricy to at the same time answer when there is a need for NECESSARY tampering with time." 

The firedancers were still out there, or maybe it was a different group. Silver watched and waited until... 

"You talk too much," said Silver and jumped out the window. 

Silver had, like most hedgehogs born after Sonic the Hedgehog, practiced the innate hedgehog spin motion at some point in his life. He'd never got any good at it, but he certainly could roll into a ball in mid-jump well enough to shield himself from the sharp edges of a shattering glass panel - if he absolutely had to. 

With the wind in his ears, Silver couldn't make out what was being shouted after him, though he was sure he could hear both Pia and Pretorious's voices. 

Animaloid hedgehogs are naturally earodynamic. They can't glide on the air like echidnas, but they can certainly control their descent well. Silver held his handcuffed hands forward and aimed for the plumes of fire generated by the flying felines. The burst of heat was far more shockingly painful than he'd imagined it would be, and he was sure his fur caught fire for a second. What mattered was that the display on the futuri- ancien- high-tech handcuffs blinked out as its circuits were fried. 

"Rrrgah!" Silver shouted as he tore his hands free, and immediatelly wrapped his body in a psycho-kinetic glow. 

Using his levitation to fly right into gravity's grip, Silver accellerated towards the large building below. He'd probably only have a few moments before Pretorious summoned too many guards to avoid, so he had to make every second count. 

This had to work, this had to work, this had to work... Silver kept telling himself that. He was going to survive this, and make his escape to the future in one piece. He had to. What Pia told him proved without a doubt that there was no way he could get caught or killed here. Right? Of course, what Pretorious said about time being so malleable and such also made sense, given how much they'd changed in history already. He couldn't get overconfident. Pia had met a Silver who pulled it all off just right. This Silver really hoped he was the same guy. 

It was surprising how easy it was to tear apart the platings that made up the golden roof of the R&D building. This underground place never experienced bad weather of any kind, and their remarkable technology and power of the Chaos Emeralds was probably enough to ward off any damaging earthquakes or other natural hazards. The Gi didn't need reinforced walls outside their jail cells. Silver wasn't gonna complain. The room he dropped down into was a classroom, surprisingly enough, and fortunately an abandoned one. The chalkboard was as mundane as everything, and most of the furniture was plain old unpainted wood. Huh. So even the Gi had some areas they didn't feel compelled to cover with gold. 

Silver stepped out into the hallway. No sign of any- 

The hedgehog started running without looking behind him, the instant he heard the voice. He didn't really care who'd shouted. The pitch alone was enough, as it compressed the gist of the message "You're not supposed to be here!" exceptionally well into a mere three syllables. As soon as Silver turned the corner, he found himself face to face with a crowd of elderly animaloids. Even in a world where fashion had deviated so far that it settled for just two colours, Silver easily recognised the group as scientists. Common sense said go the other way, but previous experience said to go towards the most interesting thing around, so Silver rushed right through the crowd. 

T0he unseen pursuer shouted again, confirming Silver's initial assumption. 

Hopping over a fallen owl, Silver entered the most impressive laboratory he'd ever seen. It was another place where the call for gold went unanswered, as the walls and furniture were all regular sterile laboratory white. Pia's grey Jumpsuit lying spread out on the central table immediatelly caught Silver's eye. Before the flabbergasted science Gi-eeks could stop him, he snatched the suit off the table and hurried towards the open door at the opposite end of the room. 

Okay, so they'd figured out how to turn the Jumpsuit visible. That was a bad sign, but it didn't mean they'd damaged it in any way, right? It still worked, right? Oh man, it better be easy to operate... 

Running and putting on a pair of pants is always a humorous operation. Silver could levitate, and kept a fine speed even as he got his legs, torso and arms into the Jumpsuit, then zipped it up. It wasn't an actual zipper. Silver had idea what it was he closed the suit up with, but it turned an opening into a seal so tight you'd swear... It was tight. Pretty darn tight. 

"Wasn't there supposed to be a helmet to this thing?" Silver muttered. 

Next thing he knew, a see-through hood grew out of the collar of the Jumpsuit and closed over his head, very uncomfortably over his spikes. The Jumpsuit had obviously been sized up for Pia in particular. One-size-fits-one. As soon as the helmet was in place, Silver saw text appear before his eyes, and the grey edges of the suit faded into complete transparency. He was sure he'd now have no chance of finding the buttons on the invisible Jumpsuit, but from the perspective of the wearer, they were all clearly highlighted and in plain sight. So that was how Pia did it. 

"Okay, now to make it work. Er..." 

Three Gizoids appeared around the corner ahead. Silver turned back towards the way he came, and now finally got a clear view of his pursuer. It was a raccoon. A raccoon wrapped in psycho-kinetic aura. 

"Just my luck," Silver said to himself as the super-combat robots and the animaloid who shared his power closed in slowly. 

- 

"Well," said Dr. Pretorious. "This is certainly embarrasing. I suppose there comes a time when a man must admit he's lost. I'd been looking so forward to watching you fade from existence as the chain of events concerning the death of your father finally caught up with you, but that doesn't seem too likely now, does it?" 

Pia looked away from the broken window to see Pretorious pointing his pulse pistol at her. He didn't look too happy about it. 

Dr. Pretorious shot his nemesis, twice. Then he walked over to where she lay and knelt down. 

"Let's see if anyone can die properly around here. Ah, here we are. No pulse, no breath, no stimulus. Dead, dead, dead. I suppose it all goes to show that if you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself. Twice." 

Pretorious didn't laugh. He wasn't really gloating, either. He'd been anticipating the final defeat of his nemesis for so long that this was frankly an anti-climax. It didn't feel right at all. Oh well. At least he still had Silver left to hunt down. He might provide a better sense of closure. 

- 

The Gizoids fired. The raccoon's eyes widened as the robots' target disappeared before his eyes, leaving him standing right in the wake of the projectiles. 

- 

Silver didn't waste any time once he'd confirmed his arrival on the heads-up display. He ran into the kitchen, saw the vile machine about to strike Pia where she lay trapped on the floor, and grabbed the first sharp thing he saw with his power, flinging it at the metal tentacle wrapped around her leg. Gritting his teeth in anger, Silver then lifted the whole machine up off the floor and smashed it into the wall, over and over, until it stopped moving. 

Pia got up on her knees and looked around to see him. 

"D-dad?" 

Silver B smiled. 

- 

_The Usual:  
- Is Pia really dead?  
- Okay, but is she going to stay dead?  
- What does it take to avoid getting a cliffhanger smacked in the face around here?_


	21. Caught In The Loop Take Two

**Chapter 20: Caught in the Loop - Take 2**

"Don't ask too many questions right now," said Silver urgently. He could tell Pia was scanning him, comparing him to the Silver she knew as her father in this time. "It's really important that what happens next goes the same way it did the first time. Just follow me!" 

Silver hurried out of the kithchen and down the stairs, kicking open the mahogany door at the bottom. Okay, Pretorious's office was through here... Wow, talk about anal - who in the world stacked their papers exactly even with the edges of the papers underneath? "I need to make certain of something," Silver said aloud, as something caught his eye. "If that wild goose chase was really all about..." 

It was a doodle in the margin of a print-out detailing the work history of Pia the Hedgehog. A rough circle with a diamond shape drawn inside, and a bunch of numbers underneath it: 06211050590BC. That was more years than the universe was old... No, there was a zero first, so that had to be a date. June twenty-first one million and fifty thousand, five-hundred and ninety BC? He must've doodled that to remember the date. Chaos Emerald in a rock? It has to be. "Yes! Of course!" he heard himself exclaim over his thoughts. 

Silver noticed that Pia was leaning over his shoulder to see what he was looking at, so he quickly threw the paper away and turned towards her. 

"I'm really sorry about what has to happen after you take me with you back to my own time, but I can't tell you the outcome in case doing so changes things for the worse. Truth is, Pia, I don't know if I'll survive or not, but just trust me. I've got a plan." 

And I'm lying, Silver thought. The me that went through this the first time around the loop must've lied too. I know exactly how I'm going to survive Pretorious's attempt to kill me, but I still don't know if you will survive or not, Pia. I'll go back and get you as soon as I can. Promise. 

Funny, when you told me about this you never mentioned that my spikes were plastered down on my back like this. I can't wait until I get to deliver your Jumpsuit back. It's not designed for hedgehogs. 

Silver walked closer to the girl and put his hands on her shoulders. 

"You said that the other me told you this, so here goes: When what has to happen has happened, you must promise to go after Pretorious right away. Oh, and it's not your fault. Remember that." 

"What? What are you talking about?" 

"Heh. That must be what I sounded like when this whole confusing adventure started. Don't worry. It will all make sense when you get to the point where I am right now. Trust me." 

Pia narrowed her eyes and pushed his hands off her. "Trust you? Like I'd trust you if you even were my father. What have you got here for me, Pretorious? Replicant droid? Shapeshifter agent? What's the matter? Couldn't get a more up-to-date image of Captain Silver to work with?" 

Silver ignored the gun pointed at his chest and continued. "You've got to take me with you when you go after Pretorious back in time." 

Pia sneered. "If you think I'm so naive that I'm going to take you with me back in time just because you kind of look like my father, then you've got another thing coming, kid," she said, prodding Silver in the chest with the barrel of her firearm. 

Silver sighed. "Okay, fine. I really didn't want to do this, but you, I mean the other you, did say to mention a certain something to convince you that I'm who I say I am... Here goes...you know Pretorious has been researching you ever since you started upsetting his plans on such a regular basis, so telling you about that...bad situation that occurred when you were young wouldn't really do the trick, since Pretorious probably knows about that. But...here's one thing that NOBODY but you should know...ah, er..." Oh, just jump into it and get it over with! "The real reason why you started dating Conquest's daughter two years ago was in order to get to me, er, your father. You even typed up your break-up speech on your personal computer, but you never used it, and...in the end she dumped you. And, and the text you DIDN'T put in the header of that e-mail but thought to was 'Poora, jigglypuff.'" 

The colour drained from Pia's face. Wow, that was a greater look of horror than he'd ever seen from her during even the worst parts of their adventure in the past. 'Poora Jigglypuff'? What the heck was with that? 

"Alright, I believe you. Never ever repeat that to me or anyone else ever again, got it?" 

"Wouldn't dream of it. I kind of wish you hadn't told me about it in the first place." 

Silver knew that was a stupid thing to say even as he said it. He'd have to be some kind of neander-hog to be bothered about ambiguous sexuality in this day and age. Actually, and somewhat to his own relief, what he found to concern him most was who the heck Conquest's daughter's father would be? Shadow was a great guy once you got to know him, and he and the Commander seemed to be getting on great, but when you got right down to it, he was a creation shaped like a hedgehog, not a real hedgehog, and totally unable to reproduce. Maybe they adopted, or maybe... 

"So you know where Dr. Pretorious went, right? Where am I supposed to take you with me to?" said Pia, interrupting Silver's train of thought in the nick of time. 

Silver got a grip on himself. "Where it all began," he said. "My apartment at 9.03 PM, August 24th, in the year twenty-two- Hang on a sec." 

"What is it now?" Pia asked irritably. 

"You just set the coordinates. There's something important I almost forgot about," Silver responded, hurrying into the kitchen. 

"What coordinates? You didn't say the year!" 

"Sorry. It's the year-" 

- 

The violent arcs of purple energy formed of Pia's Jumpsuit and connected to the walls and nearby furniture. The electrical display disappeared as soon as Pia got her feet on solid past. Before the blinding blast had settled, Silver hurried behind the curtains, so he wouldn't be seen until it was time. He wondered if it was the cuts and nicks in Pia's suit or the interference of his copy of the very same Jumpsuit that caused that violent display as opposed to the gentle flash of normal time travel. 

"Isn't that an unnecessarily attention-seeking way to time travel, Silver?" he heard the voice of Dr. Pretorious and resisted the urge to rush out and tackle the villain. No, he couldn't. Messing up at this critical juncture could have catastrophically unpredictable consequences. "At least Eggman Nega had the decency to go for function over fashion with his time machine design. Look, it's a wrist watch. His fifth generation version, which he sadly lacked the time to complete before his untimely death. Oh, I'm sorry. Am I spoiling too much, captain Silver? I do tend to go on. It's a silly habit of mine." 

"SHUT! UP!" said Pia in a commanding tone. She really did sound just like Blaze when she shouted like that. 

"Watch that tone, young lady. I might get startled and accidentally apply pressure to this little button under my index finger here. You wouldn't want something to happen to the captain of the Temporal Protectorate, would you? Oops, another spoiler. Where can I put my head? Aheeheehee! Well, since we're all getting acquainted, why don't you tell the captain- I mean Silver the Hedgehog, here, your name?" 

"Pia." 

"Come now, I should think a meeting this special would call for a little formality. Her name is Pia the Hedgehog. Yes, I know what you're thinking, Silver. Hedgehog? Why, surely she's a cat! Let's review the family history. I'm not entirely certain if we're after of before the point in time when you learn this, Silver, but you are the direct descended of Sonic the Hedgehog. Isn't that remarkable? Your grandfather knew this, and therefore had his name legally changed to 'The Hedgehog', thus circumventing the long-lasting animaloid tradition of just abscent-mindely picking the name of the animal as a surname. And gosh, wouldn't you know it, when your daughter, Silver, is not a hedgehog at all, but a cat, there do actually arise some legal complications with the name. Ridiculous, I know, but it happened. This seventeen year-old cat won't have the legal power to properly disown her given family name for another year. Hence, Pia the Hedgehog. Amusing when you think about it, really." 

"I told you to shut up, Pretorious!" 

"Sorry. No more dawdling." 

NOW! 

Silver shot across the room with a Teleport Dash, throwing himself right in the path of Pretorious's shot. As soon as he felt the explosive force, he squeezed the thing in his hand hard enough to make it burst, then fell over and laid still in the expanding pool of blood. 

"No!" Pia shouted, moved as if to rush towards the apparently mortally-wounded hedgehog, but instead ran at Dr. Pretorious. Silver's past self followed suit. There was another flash as Pretorious activated his time portal, and all three were swallowed up by it. 

Afterwards, all that was left was an immobile Silver lying in a pool of blood. 

Silver opened his eyes, and stood up. He was impressed to see all the red stuff pour right off the invisible Jumpsuit without leaving a single stain. 

It was a grotesque solution, but all Silver could think of at the time. While Pia had prepared for their trip back to this time, Silver had hurried into the kitchen and grabbed a little plastic container off a shelf, then scooped up as much of the dead hedgehog underling's blood as he could. When the time came all he had to do was make the container burst, and make sure he fell with his apparent wound facing the floor. 

Well, that did it. He'd gone through the time loop and out the other end. Now to save Pia, then finally stop Dr. Pretorious once and for all. Chaos Emerald in a rock - the Chaos Core. Silver now knew exactly what Pretorious planned to do in order to complete his insane ambition. If Pretorious escaped from the time of the Gi, then Silver would know exactly where to look for him... 

Okay, now for the tricky bit. Silver had no idea how to program a time-space destination to the Jumpsuit. He'd managed to reach Pia and Pretorious's present by simply finding the Recall function and fiddling just a little with the space and the time axis, so he'd arrive a little away, and a little earlier than when Pia had first left. Now, he had to find the entry for...ah, here it was. Third from the top in the list on the left-hand side of the heads-up display. Okay, to travel to exactly the same time as before counted as an illegal action, apparently. Probably to prevent two time travellers from getting caught in the same space and getting their matter all mixed - gross. 

About one day after he and Pia first arrived should be enough. He didn't want to interfere with his own escape from Pretorious's makeshift tour bus, so he needed to find the right window of opportunity. How long after he escaped would Pretorious hesitate before doing something to Pia? Probably only minutes. 

"Here goes everything," said Silver, and activated the time travel function. 

Afterwards, all that was left was a pool of someone else's blood. 

- 

_In the next chapter:  
- Silver's race against time.  
- The ultimate stealth mission.  
- No predestination to worry about now._


	22. Saving Pia

**Chapter 21: Saving Pia**

If one wasn't aware of all the questions and pangs of self-doubt Silver experienced throughout it all, one might watch his heroic endevour to save Pia and consider Silver a true paragon of bravery and confidence. All it would take was to not know what he was thinking every step of the way... 

- 

A group of Gizoids were on standby in the vast plain where Glyphic Canyon would someday be. Silver materialised right in the middle of the robots. It was unknown whether the Gizoids had been deliberately placed there by Pretorious, or were simply on standard guard duty for their Gi masters. Either way, all of them immediatelly revealed hidden firearms and took aim. 

Silver caught the projectiles with his psycho-kinesis, and quickly stamped them all with the label "Return to Sender". His major advantage here was that these Gizoids were too far away from the energy field of the Chaos Emeralds that powered the Gi city. These inferior self-powered models had been built only for hunting animals and keeping any unwanted primitives away. Silver found he could just as easily pick up the remaining Gizoids and pull them apart at the joints. Once the last of them was taken care of, he was left with the task of finding the entrance to the underground city. 

As it would soon turn out, the golden passageway leading underground was kept hidden by a cloaking device similar to what the Gizoids had been using during that initial ambush that lead to Silver and Pia being captured. By testing the area with his power, Silver was able to locate the entrance due to the visual effects of his psycho-kinetic energy interfering with the cloaking field. An extra blast of energy, and the field was disrupted completely. 

Now it was Silver's turn to play hide-and-seek. He found the cloaking function of Pia's Jumpsuit and turned it on. The little warning label that appeared for a brief moment on his heads-up display said that movement damaged the illusion of invisibility. Silver seemed to take it into consideration, but still ran as fast as he could down the fancy tunnel leading from the surface to the city of Giozaz. The chameleon effect of the Jumpsuit attempting to recolour its texture into a perfect likeness of the surrounding scenery at least should help if the people watching through those peculiar camera-like devices in the ceiling weren't paying too close attention. 

- 

"_Overseer Vanaz, Overseer Vanaz!_" shouted the turtle guard watching the surveilance feed in the Tower of Chains, near the edge of the city. 

The raccoon Ul Vanaz, Chief Overseer of the perimeter watch, approached with an air of annoyance. "_This best be of importance,_" he said. 

"_I believe so, Overseer. The 21st guard has been destroyed! Before the perimeter watcher was sent offline, it recorded this!_" 

Vanaz watched poker-faced as the white hedgehog on-screen decimated the Gizoids with powers that he recognised the instant he saw them. Although his expression didn't change, Vanaz's psycho-kinetic aura grew visible, as it often did when he was agitated. 

"_The Zera Gi's pet interloper. He's let his prisoners loose, hasn't he?_" Vanaz demanded to know. 

"_Uh, no Overseer. They're in the holding cells, still. Look._" 

The monitor that the turtle pointed to clearly showed the white hedgehog and the orange cat sitting peacefully in their cells. 

"_Hrm...a twin? How long until the interloper Pretorious comes to fetch his friends?_" 

"_About ten and five half-measures, Overseer._" 

"_Not enough time. Very well. Send the number of guards that the Zera Gi requested along with the prisoners for Pretorious's pointless tour. I will deal with the twin myself. Contact the 17th guard, and tell them to barricade the passages into the common areas. Let this intruder find me._" 

- 

Through the windows of this empty corridor, Silver could see the tube he and Pia had walked through when Pretorious lead them out of the prison complex. From this distance, he couldn't possibly make out if the figures seen moving through the passage were the tour group or someone else. Unless he could find some transportation, it would be a lengthy trek through this maze of corridors built a mile above the ground-level streets of Giozaz. 

Silver ran past a crowd of civilians, and turned right at the first major junction. He almost ran into a wall of Gizoids standing on alert. Cloaked or not, the robots saw him and opened fire. As before, Silver caught the bullets and threw them back at the Gizoids. However, this time the golden robots erected energy shields that deflected the bullets harmlessly. Keeping his own shield of psycho-kinetic reach up, Silver turned and fled down the opposite passage. 

Before he could react, Silver's own body was grabbed by a wave of psycho-kinetic energy and thrown across the hall hard enough to cause a web of cracks in the window he hit. Gritting his teeth, Silver looked up to see a raccoon Gi officer crack his knuckles while grinning menacingly. 

"You!" said Silver aloud. 

Overseer Vanaz unleashed his powers again, but this time Silver responded in kind. The opposing forces caused violent displays of energy, generating cracks in the walls and ceiling as random bursts of extreme gravity deflect off their target and touched the surrounding area. Before the two animaloids could come to their senses, the floor beneath them split open, revealing a deadly drop and a fantastic view of the city below. Silver would levitate to safe ground, but Vanaz used his own telekenisis to dash at the hedgehog and grab him out of the air. 

"_Your powers are impressive, but do you have the courage to taunt the abyss, hedgehog?_" said Vanaz with a mad look in his eyes. 

They both used their powers, but for opposite purposes. Silver tried to gain air, while Vanaz tried to drag them both downward as fast and hard as possible. With gravity on his side, the raccoon was the likely winner. Not a moment too soon, Silver realised the futility of using his powers here, and diverted his energy towards plain old mucle strength, delivering a kick to the raccon's face with enough force to make him let go. 

Silver levitated up past the hole he'd fallen through, and up to the top of the corridor tube he'd been walking through. He was better off running along the top of these pipes to get where he wanted to go. Silver started running again. Not far behind, Vanaz got a grip and pulled himself up, keeping his gaze locked on his target. 

The hedgehog would've grown exhausted far sooner under normal circumstances. The fact that he was still keeping great speed after half an hour of non-stop running suggested quite clearly that the Gizoids weren't the only ones who benefitted from an environment constantly bathed in the glow of the eight Chaos Emeralds. 

The terminal station where the Pretorious's tour group had first entered a Gi hovercraft was directly below. Silver bent to jump, right when something heavy swished past his head. He turned to see the raccoon wielding a small solar system of heavy rock fragments pulled out of the cavern's ceiling itself. Silver did a desperate dance to avoid getting hit by the rocks, managing to concentrate his power right at the last second before getting impaled by a nasty stalactite fragment. 

"You don't know when to quit, do you?" said Silver angrily, rushing at the Overseer. 

The hedgehog and raccoon collided with a flash of psycho-kinetic energy likely visible as a green flare to the citizens below. Punching and kicking with every bit of ferocity he had in him, Silver fought like he was possessed. The raccoon was far stronger, though, and would likely have beaten Silver to death if not for the protection offered by the Jumpsuit. The struggling pair rolled close to a humming power line running along the edge of the outer tube. Laughing under his heavy breath, Vanaz grabbed Silver by the neck and pushed his head towards the line... 

There was a massive burst of blue light as the shock travelled along the Jumpsuit and earthed itself in the blue crystalline buttons on the Overseer's uniform. Vanaz flew back and lay still on his back, twitching slightly. 

As soon as he got his breath back, Silver resumed the chase. He ran to the edge and dived off, flying straight down towards the terminal station building. As he got closer, he diverted his descent with his levitation power, steering towards the nearest golden tram leaving in the right direction. Landing as lightly as possible, Silver found his footing on the roof of the hovercraft. He quickly knelt over the side of the vehicle to look through the windows. The passengers were all generic Gi citizens. No sign of Pia, Pretorious or his past self. It seemed likely that the tour group had already gone ahead. If not for that psycho guard, Silver would probably have caught up with them now. 

The psycho-kinetic hedgehog leapt off the tram and levitated towards the closest vehicle, landed for a second, then flew towards the next. By that method, he made his way across the airborne traffic of Gizoaz. 

As he was scanning for his next destination while standing atop a hovercraft shaped like a train wagon, Silver recieved a brutal sucker punch that would've surely snapped his spine if not for the padding effect of his back spikes. It sufficed to send him rolling across the roof of the vehicle. Breathing like a madman, the Overseer went in for the kill. His fur was frazzled and burnt in places now, but it was the beady bloodshot eyes that really delivered the impression of an animaloid pushed far enough to come back a raging beast. 

"_YOU...DIE...NOW!!!_" Vanaz roared. 

Silver jumped out of the way at the last second, and caught his footing on a small vehicle zooming past in the opposite direction. Silver looked back to see Vanaz following with greater speed than he'd ever been able to manage through levitation in a terrestrial environment. He looked ahead, looked back again, and put on a confident expression. 

Vanaz'z fist passed through empty air. The hedgehog was far below, flying towards the Research & Development complex. The raccoon followed. 

Silver deliberately steered away from the roof, and aimed towards a terrace area. After checking to make sure the psycho was still following him, Silver went inside. He was in luck. The corridor he was looking for was right ahead. After listening for tell-tale footsteps, Silver threw himself into a doorway and waited until the other him ran past. He heard the raccoon shout, and run after his past self. 

Overseer Vanaz never considered that the hedgehog he was chasing had suddenly sprouted spikes that stuck straight out instead of being stuck down to its fur. In a few minutes, he would be shot dead by his own Gizoid allies as Silver A escaped across time and space. 

Silver B couldn't rest yet, though. The tram carrying Pretorious and Pia was now directly above this building. Silver ran into the empty classroom with the gaping hole in the floor, and drew out every last ounce of psycho-kinetic power he had left, before launching himself straight up into the air like a rocket. 

- 

"Well," said Dr. Pretorious. "This is certainly embarrasing. I suppose there comes a time when a man must admit he's lost. I'd been looking so forward to watching you fade from existence as the chain of events concerning the death of your father finally caught up with you, but that doesn't seem too likely now, does it?" 

Pia looked away from the broken window to see Pretorious pointing his pulse pistol at her. He didn't look too happy about it. 

Dr. Pretorious shot at his nemesis, twice. Neither one of the void pellets connected, as they bounced harmlessly off the Jumpsuit worn by Silver the Hedgehog. Silver next wielded exceptional displays of psycho-kinetic skill as he disarmed and knocked out the wolf and warthog guards, then threw the Gizoids out of the hovercraft in spite of their fighting prowess. 

"Tsk, tsk," went Pretorious. "No one manages to die properly around here." 

Without a moment's hesitation, the villain, defeated for now, tapped the button on his wrist watch, and disappeared from that point in time. 

Silver, drenched in sweat, exhausted beyond anything he'd ever thought possible, finally collapsed on the floor. Pia's mouth had been hanging open. She closed it, and knelt down beside her young father. 

"Thank you," she said, and hugged him for the first time in almost ten years. 

- 

_In the next chapter:  
- The final episode.  
- All the answers revealed.  
- You totally can't wait._


	23. Chaos Controlled part one

**Chapter 22: Chaos Controlled (Part One)**

June 21, 1050590BC. Unnamed land-mass. 

By this time the crater was so overgrown by thick jungle that it could only be recognised from a vantage point hundreds of miles above. At the very heart of the scar the size of a small country, was a freshly dug pit, with wooden planks and tools scattered around like at an excavation site. At the bottom of the pit was a polished surface of meteorite rock, with a small hole cut in its surface, revealing an emerald green indentation beneath the rough outer layer. 

Dr Pretorious climbed down the wooden ladder into the pit. He'd changed back into his regular clothes as soon as he arrived. His decision to leave his clothes as well as the keys to unlocking the power of the Core behind at the earliest possibility was a good one. A shame that his decision to double back and confront his nemesis and her father when they arrived in the world of the Gi hadn't worked out as well. Oh well. In a little while it wouldn't matter anymore. 

The energised shard of the Core, the tail of Chaos, the sample of the pre-Chaos chao, and the Control Rod used by the Gi technicians to stabilise the energy output of the Chaos Emeralds. The four keys sat on the wooden shelf next to the ladder, right where Pretorious had left them. 

Time to begin. 

- 

The twilight painted ominious reds and scarlet across the sky, as Silver and Pia ran as fast as they could down the hillside towards the heart of the crater. They'd lost a lot of time due to that miss-jump in the middle of the ocean. After calculating the location of Glyphic Canyon over a million years in the past, they managed to get the destination right. It was still one heck of a sprint after Pia spotted the highly historically-inaccurate tools and equipment scattered around the hole in in the distance. 

- 

Pretorious knelt down beside the indentation and poured out the fluid extracted from the chao Blossom into the gap. He then inserted the piece of meteorite rock charged with Master Emerald energy into the indentation. It fitted perfectly. 

Dr. Pretorious nearly lost his balance as the meteorite suddenly shifted violently in the soil, at the same time becoming bathed in a flourescent green glow. Once the meteorite had twisted to what it apparently considered the right way, the whole massive rock started to rise out of the pit, carrying the the raccoon, who'd fallen on his butt while trying to make sure he didn't lose hold of the canister or the rod. 

Still too far away, the heroes in hot pursuit watched the speck of powerful green light rise up from the ground ahead. 

Once it'd stabilised, floating just a little too high up, Dr. Pretorious stood up carefully. He only had his pinky finger to spare, since he wouldn't let go of the canister containing Chaos's tail or the Control Rod, but he was able to test the functions of the Gi device. Yes, it was certainly reading the radiation from the Chaos Core. No sense in waiting, then. 

Dr. Pretorious stuck the rod under his arm, then in one quick movement twisted the lid off the canister, and emptied the contents into his open mouth. He made no effort to diguise his grimaces as he swallowed the gelatinous substance. 

"Ergh...salty," said Pretorious. "Now, let's see if I can have an ounce of your powers without succumbing to your will, dear Chaos." 

Silver and Pia were close enough to hear the screaming. They looked at each other, then accellerated. 

Pretorious caught the rod before it rolled over the edge of the meterorite. "That was a close call," he said. "Was it really necessary to be that uncooperative, Chaos? Surely our ultimate goals do not differ that much? You wanted revenge against a world that did not appreciate the sacred value of your kind. I want the same, but I know better than to bother with petty retaliations when I can simply change the world to my liking. I'll even let chao live peacefully, as a favour. Ugh-GRAAAAARGH!! Gah! Now that's enough of that. I have more important things to worry about than what a dismembered water-elemental thinks." 

Humming a happy little tune, Pretorious fiddled with the buttons on the Control Rod. Underneath him, the emenations of the Chaos Core shifted and refocused obedientaly. Dr. Pretorious wasn't satisfied with each adjustment until it achieved the maximum energy output possible. 

By that time, he spotted the hedgehog and the cat. It was easy, since Silver had just lifted a very large dinosaur out of his path. Dr. Pretorious sighed, and settled down to wait for the two to arrive. 

"Would you like a moment to catch your breath?" he said eventually. 

"You're...huff...g-going down th-this time, Pre-gah...Pretorious!" Pia exclaimed between breaths. 

"I would like to. I am rather high up here. Why the Chaos Core insists on defying gravity is one thing I do not fully comprehend." 

"Th-that's the Chaos Core?" Silver asked. 

Dr. Pretorious chuckled. "Yes, this is the Chaos Core. The metorite composed of 94 Chaos Ore. Almost all of its power is gone now. You should have seen it in its prime, when it struck Earth and released the fantastic power that changed our planet forever. Its radiation spread across the globe, being absorbed by the native creatures across the generations. The mammals, the reptiles, the insects, even the plants were affected. For many of the ancient creatures of Earth, the power became natural. It changed them, forcing their evolution along new paths. Do you understand what I'm saying? If this meteorite had not hit Earth, animaloids such as we would not exist." 

"The Chaos Emeralds," Pretorious continued, "have the power to touch that energy that was deposited within each being on Earth when the greater part of the Chaos Core was torn apart during atmospheric entry, about two million years before today. If you had time to properly look around this young Earth, you'd see that the first animaloids are already gathering into primitive societies. Humans will come later. The first true hominids developed a natural immunity to Chaos radiation. Strange, and a tragic loss for their kind. Their potential will remain untapped." 

"What are you going to do with that big rock?" Pia asked, preparing fireballs in her open hands. 

"Surely it's obvious by now?" Pretorious answered, rolling his eyes. "I will absorb the remaining power of the Chaos Core. The energy from the Master Emerald in 2110 AD was enough to channel the dormant power of the meteorite. The chao liquid from 1205 BC patched the connection between the seperated fragment of the meteorite and the metorite itself, repairing the damage to the Chaos Core and binding its power to the chao that would be Chaos. The Control Rod from 2051 BC let me manually alter the energy levels of the Chaos Core, raising them to maximum. Finally, the tail of Chaos recovered from the year two thousand and...something AD let's me do...THIS!" 

Silver and Pia were thrown backwards as the Chaos Core exploded before their very eyes. The green blast grew to consume them, but then somehow reversed and got drawn into the burning green sillhuette of Dr. Pretorious. 

"AheeheeheeHEEHE**EHEEHEEEEE!!!**" 

After the haze cleared, Silver pushed the big blackened chunk of meteorite off himself and Pia, then looked up to see the raccon floating at the heart of a green inferno of energy. His eyes didn't have pupils anymore... 

"**Oh, dear. I'm naked,**" said Pretorious, examining his new form. "**Well, hardly anymore naked than you, Silver, but it's the principle of the thing. Is it just me, or does my voice sound odd?**" 

"What have you done to yourself?" Pia asked, glaring at the overpowered villain. 

"**Maybe I wouldn't have a reputation for going on too much if people didn't ask me the same questions over and over? Like I said, I've absorbed the power of the Chaos Core. The fact that I can apparently fly now should really be evidence of the fact. Nevermind the showy glowy green fur. To be honest, this isn't quite what I had in mind. I think a test is in order.**" 

Pretorious pointed at the nearest mountain, and watched as the tip of it got cleaved in half. 

"**God-like power. Handy. A bonus, but hardly what I'm after. Total power over time and space, is what I'm really interested in. Sufficient to hide away the civilisation of the Gi outside of time while the destruction of the eighth Emerald destroys most of the world as they know it. But wait... Oh dear, will the Gi even exist with the Chaos Core in this state of disrepair? I may have to write a new history from scratch. At least there'll be room for a brand new god now. The future looks bright as ever, my friends!**" 

Pretorious vanished. He didn't return. 

Silver and pia stared at the spot where the villain had been for a while. 

"We go after him, right?" said Silver. 

"We couldn't catch him while he was an ordinary raccoon with no special powers at all. What the heck are we supposed to do now tha he can topple mountains and stuff?" 

Silver walked over to the scattered chunks of meteorite. They were all black like they'd been seared. Even the crystaline interior was drained of colour, just like... 

- 

Silver held the black Emerald over his head and closed his eyes in concentration. Blaze's face lit up as she watched the Chaos Emerald regain a healthy blue glow. 

"How did you do that?" she said. 

"I just believed that I could," Silver answered simply. 

- 

That had worked, then, but this was a little bit more of a challenge than one single Chaos Emerald. Wait, what was he saying? The chunks of rock comprised the substance of all the Chaos Emeralds AND the Master Emerald. Pretorious was a psychopath - there was no way he could touch even one fraction of the positive energy of the Emeralds. He had to be riding on pure negative power. That meant this had to work. Except... 

Do I really have what it takes to achieve a Super form, Silver asked himself. 

Pia stepped forward. "Silver, I've got an idea," she said. "The Chaos Core is all of the Emeralds at once, and should have the same properties, meaning positive energy and negative energy. Our friendly nut-job can't touch the good stuff, so it's still here for the taking. Think happy thoughts or whatever it takes. We've got one chance to stop Pretorious and restore the Chaos Core, or we'll be facing a timeline where the Chaos Emeralds never existed and an omnipotent psychopath steered history only they way he liked it." 

Silver was sure he thought of that solution first. Maybe he needed to voice his thoughts more? 

"Right!" 

The two heroes stepped into the centre of the meteorite debris... 

Silver knew his motivation: I'm going to stop Pretorious, save history, and make sure Pia gets the life she deserves. This time, I'll be there for her! 

Pia knew hers. It was less cheesy, but certainly enough to give her the determination she needed. 

The flash of golden light was visible from afar... 

- 

_In the next chapter:  
- Super Silver and Pia versus Pretorious. Final showdown.  
- Battle spanning history, forth and back.  
- Winner take All._


	24. Chaos Controlled part two

**Chapter 23: Chaos Controlled (Part Two)**

My name is Dr. Trevor Pretorious. I am a scientist. That is the simple truth. I am no god - I do not seek to rule the world. All I want are answers. My desire is only to understand...everything. 

- 

Pretorious flew over the scarred battlefield, taking it all in and revelling in what he saw. Moving through time by sheer force of will rather than technology meant less accuracy as to where and when he would arrive, but it didn't matter. He could see the primitive human tribes being slaughtered by the advanced war machines of the Gi. All he needed to know was that the Gi would rise to power even without the Chaos Emeralds. The premature extinction of the human race at their hands was no great loss. 

"**It's a wonderful world, after all. The Gi are out of hiding and pursuing their destiny with greater ambition than they ever did in the timeline that was. I give them my blessing. Well, not literally - there are depths of supernatural embodiment I shan't stoop to. When I give myself wings and start demanding tribute, it's time to give the power rush a rest.**" 

The glowing green raccoon looked around, as the golden tanks fired their shells at the straw huts far below. 

"**I should know how this next part goes, by now. My nemesis and her young father appear in order to perform yet another misguided attempt to stop me. I may be kicking myself shortly for not simply killing them both after absorbing the Chaos Core.**" 

On cue, Super Silver and Pia (quite happy without an additional prefix along the lines of "Super", "Burning", "Hyper" or whatever), shot out of the passageways of time and space and faced down their enemy. 

"**Now what? Oh, of course. The positive/negative energy issue. Goodness me, my face is red. Green, I suppose.**" 

Pia's fur glowed vibrant red rather than pale gold like Silver's. She launched herself forward, generating a hurricaine of intense flames as she closed in on Pretorious. The raccoon's confidence evaporated as soon as he felt the heat through all of his energy barriers. Pia put on an evil smile as soon as she heard Pretorious's cry of pain. 

"Hot enough for ya?" she called out. 

"**Please! The banter is easily as painful as the, well, pain,**" said Pretorious, looking hurt and afraid. "**I should be invincible, but a form of positive energy is automatically the bane of anything charged with the opposite negative energy, isn't it? Let's see if it works both ways!!**" 

With that sudden giddy outburst, Pretorious unleashed a beam of white-hot death at Pia. The look on his face when the beam curved away and paused as a trapped sphere around Silver was priceless. The hedgehog fired the beam right back at Pretorious. 

"**Aaaaargh!! Argh! Ow! What a rotten trick to pull.**" 

"This ends here, Pretorious!" Silver shouted. 

"**Gosh, what an original line. Would you also like to tell me that you'll make me pay for all my evil deeds? No, I know! 'You'll never get away with this!' - 'Face the power of justice!' and the biggest cliche of them all: 'I will protect the future!' Save your trite nonsense.**" 

Silver narrowed his eyes. 

"**Egads, you just narrowed your eyes. Oh, I'm really 'going to get it now', right?**" 

The two heroes drew out their powers and charged at the villain from opposite sides. Pretorious shrugged, and vanished once again. It didn't matter. He couldn't escape now. 

- 

Before Silver and Pia left the Dawn of Time: 

Super Silver laughed as he felt the incredible power flow through his body. Pia looked less extatic. 

"Well, that's that," she said. 

"What's what?" 

"This Jumpsuit definitely wasn't built to handle the strain of a Super transformation. It's completely shorted out." 

"Oh. I see. Well, then take it off. We don't need it anymore." 

"What do you mean?" 

"Can't you feel it? The...space, the gap, the hole...thing left behind by Pretorious's departure. Over...that way. We can follow him wherever, whenever he goes. I'm sure of it!" 

- 

Now: 

Another battlefield. Pretorious descended to a barren grey terrain covered in the mutilated corpses of Gi soldiers and Black Arms warriors. He looked to his right with a start as a nuclear explosion lit up the horizon. 

"**The Gi must be so happy,**" he said to himself. "**A proper challenge to entertain themselves with after countless centuries of fighting nothing but dull primitive tribes with no capacity to defend themselves. Nice to see the Black Arms putting up a better fight, as well. Those black structures to the West there hardly look like anything Earth should produce.**" 

He wasn't surprised to see Silver and Pia appear above him. 

"**Sorry I had to rush off like that. I needed a moment to think. Don't worry, though, I shouldn't need to run any longer.**" 

Super Silver wrenched hundreds of boulders from the ravaged terrain and threw them at Pretorious. The green raccoon didn't move an inch, but dissolved into a flourescent green mist at the last second. 

"What the-?" went Silver. 

"**Isn't this a fine trick?**" came Pretorious's voice before the green mist engulfed them both. 

- 

Pia opened her eyes. She was lying in gravel, next to a stone wall covered in grafitti. She could smell smoke, and feel heat rising everywhere. 

The cat stood up. With her heart beating faster, she looked around the wall to see the courtyard she remembered far too well. The school building was engulfed in flames. There was a scream... That...one scream, over and over. That scream of dying pain repeated again and again, tormenting her... 

The outline of Pretorious's face appeared in the plume of smoke rising from the burning building. 

"Hello killer," he said. "I've given you a present. A trip to the point in time you were so desperate to return to that you violated every single law and standard of the Temporal Protectorate." 

"No! You dastard, not here!" Pia shouted, trying to cover her ears. Nothing seemed to work to block out that horrible repeating scream. 

"What's the matter? You should revel in this triumph. A burning valentine for your first crush, and a vengeance for rejecting you. You got your justice, killer." 

"No! That's not how it happened! It was an accident..." 

"So you say, because you don't understand yet. These are your memories, your thoughts, your guilt. I'm just here to watch the show. Ah, I'm so glad you didn't die back in Giozaz. To let your failures eat you alive is a far more satisfying victory. Ten years of therapy couldn't save you from your fear and hatred of this place, and you can't escape now. Your soul weakens here, your Super form fades away out there in the real world, and you finally die. A thorn in my side no longer." 

The scream was growing louder. 

"The moment of death played over and over again," Pretorious went on. "You should go inside. You know you're going to, even though every fibre of your body cries out in fear at the very idea of that place. Maybe you can save him, this time?" 

Pia ran. Though her feet moved as if wading through glue, and the heat and pain in front of her seemed overwhelming, she ran right into the heart of the inferno. She cried out as she touched the searingly hot door handle leading into the classhalls. She could normally render herself immune to flame at a whim, but in this nightmare world her powers didn't work at all. 

"Look at what you caused, killer," said the marble bust of the school's founder, now wearing the grinning face of Pretorious. 

Pia ran faster. 

"Look at all the damage you did," said a half-burnt drawing of a happy green raccoon. 

Her face a grimace of pain, Pia beat out the spark that'd tried to settle on her furry arm. 

"It's a miracle only one person died," said thirty shades of Pretorious lined up in a class photograph. 

Pia kicked a classroom door open and ran through an emptied classroom where a ten year-old raccoon was finishing up the lengthy chore of writing the word "Killer" five hundred times on the huge chalkboard. 

"Where is he!?" Pia shouted as she entered a hallway identical to the first one. The scream, louder than ever, was coming from every direction at once. 

- 

Silver was facing a similar experience. In the world the phantom Pretorious created in the hedgehog's mind, he was getting belittled and mocked through a series of repeating scenes. Blaze, the Command, Shadow, Terkal, everyone - telling him to his face all the fears and doubts he carried with him. 

Finally, when Silver was at the verge of becoming a crippled puddle of self-doubt, Pretorious threw at him his current greatest fear of all... 

"No matter what you try, no matter how much you want it, you'll never change," said Pia. "You're going to be a horrible parent, and I'll hate you forever for it." 

Silver opened his eyes. 

- 

There! There he was, still alive! 

Pia looked around in desperation for any way to get around the barricade of burning wreckage that prevented her from reaching the boy she could clearly make out on the other side. When no answer presented itself, and his coughing grew worse, Pia tensed to face her fears head-on and smash through the barrier. But before she could put one foot in front of the other, a powerful grip held her back. 

"That's as far as you go, Agent Pia," said captain Silver of the Temporal Protectorate. 

"No... No, you won't stop me this time! I won't let you!!" Pia pushed at her father with all her might. 

The nightmare took a step further into darkness, as an explosion of fire erupted from Pia's hands and engulfed her father. 

"Killer, killer, killer. You'll never change," said Dr. Pretorious, tapping the cat lying over her dead father with the tip of his cane. "Hmm... Perhaps 'murderer' is the more apt term. Such a violent death for the one you hate so much can only be premediated. Any court of law would agree." 

Pia attacked Pretorious fiercely, her fists passing through his body as it dissolved into smoke. The madman's laughter remained, however, even as Pia finally gave up and let the tears come. 

"AheeheeheeheeheeHEEHA_AAHAHAAHAEEE!!!_" 

- 

The glow Pia's Super form was fading fast. With no sign of Pretorious, Super Silver could only watch his unconscious daughter squirm in apparent agony. 

"No, there has to be something I can do," he said aloud. "All this power has to be good for more than flying around and kicking raccoon butt. C'mon!" 

- 

Pretorious's laughter and the boy's screams both began to fade. Pia looked up, slowly. 

The scene hadn't changed. The fire still roared, eating away at the school she'd once had fond memories of her time at. The boy, her best friend and first crush, lay dead. This...was the real memory. 

She had run back inside, back then. She'd never been able to admit it to herself, but she'd always known the truth: the accident was all her fault. She should've listened to her mother's instructions on how to channel and control her powers better. She should've called for help right away instead of making stupid and misguided attempts at putting out the fire herself before it escalated out of control. 

"It was my fault," Pia finally told herself. "And as I've always done, I'll spend every minute of my life making up for it..." 

No sound from Pretorious. No taunts. No illusions, except the memory itself. 

Pia opened her eyes. 

- 

The look of relief on Silver's face was a good sight to wake up to. 

"Welcome back," he said. 

"Thanks. sniff Where's Pretorious?" 

"Gone, again. Let's go after him together." Super Silver punched his palm. "I'll kill him for what he's done." 

"No!" Pia exclaimed. "We're not killing him. We'll beat him, take him back to the Chaos Core and restore it as it was, and then I'll bring Pretorious back where he belongs; spending the rest of his life rotting in a jail cell." 

"What? After everything he's done? He tried to kill both of us! He's turned Earth into this...this..horrible warzone! You think he'll ever be sorry for anything he's ever done?" 

"Probably not, but I'll regret it if I don't do everything in my power to bring him back alive." 

"Oh...fine. Let's just get him before he pulls another trick." 

Super Silver and Pia went forward again. Pretorious would soon have nowhere left to run.

_In the next chapter:  
- The end of the final showdown.  
- The fate of Pretorious.  
- Bringing history back on the right track._


	25. Chaos Controlled part three

**Chapter 24: Chaos Controlled (Last Part)**

Present day. Ruins of Neo Giozaz. 

What was left of the once-great city was already being swept away by the tides of lava. With the never-breaking layers of dark clouds enshrouding everything, and the glow of fire and lava lighting up all there was to see, it was like a scene from Hell. 

**"Quite. One of the middle-eastern religions, most likely. They always had such creative imagination for hells of suffering and destruction." Pretorious flew over the ruins, looking around. "So this is how it ends. The Gi set loose some destructive power beyond their means to control. History is a stubborn thing - always repeating, never learning. I shall have to make some serious changes after I destroy my relentless pursuers. Hmmm... Not a bad setting for a final battle, if I do say so myself."  
**

The movements of something too large to be living caught Pretorious's eye. It was a beast, composed of hardened lava rock and pouring fire. It toppled a sky scraper in one movement, for seemingly no other reason that that it was in its way. 

**"Big boy, aren't you? I wonder if I can get inside YOUR head..."  
**

- 

Super Silver and Pia touched down on what had once been the terrace of a fancy resturant, but was now the last surviving scrap of metallic outcrop overlooking the destroyed metropolis. 

"What a horrible place," said Silver, looking around. "How far ahead did we go?" 

"If I had my Jumpsuit, I'd tell you," Pia answered. "It looks like our fears were justified. Earth suffered one close call too many, and the Gi failed to save themselves." 

"We'll fix it, and then-" 

Silver was interrupted by volcanic explosion as a mountainous shape erupted from the lava flow and smashed through the very platform they were standing on. Gradually the bulge of lava took shape and grew visible limbs and a demonic face, wrapped in armour of frozen lava. Before they could react, the thing grabbed both Silver and Blaze in its tentacles. 

There was a loud crunching of rock as the monster's face assumed a different expression than it was designed for. The grinding motion settled into an evil grin, and the heroes both heard the voice clearly from the maw of the monstrosity: 

"How do you like me now, boys and girls?" 

"P-Pretorious?" Pia shouted in shock, staring at the head the size of a house. 

**"I failed to destroy either of you from within, but this beast was an easy challenge to overcome. It is a mindless brute, stripped of all intelligence and will. Easy to inhabit, easy to control."  
**

Pia twisted in the monster's grip. "Silver," she shouted. "Keep him busy!" 

"What? How can I-" 

Silver didn't get time to say anything else, as Pia rulled into a tight ball and shot herself down through the lava tentacle, flying through the molten rock towards its heart. The Super hedgehog understood that this was no time for hesitation. Channeling his power, he released a psycho-kinetic shockwave that caused the tentacle holding him to burst into fragments. He could tell right away that the Pretorious-Thing was faster on the uptake when it came to Pia's plan than he was, so he settled for ripping what was left of the concrete terrace out of its foundation and throwing the chunks at the monster's head with meteoric force. It worked, apparently. Large bits of armour broke off the lava monster, and its composition clearly weakened under the onslaught. 

**"It won't be that easy, Silver! You haven't given me a chance to take this new ride for a spin yet! Aheeheeheehee!"  
**

With that taunt, a cataclysmic whirlwind of flames erupted from the lava at the base of the beast and grew to surrounding the monster, cutting off any chance for Silver to attack. He soon found it hard enough just to keep himself from getting sucked into the vortext. 

Inside the belly of the beast, Pia found her target. Two silluettes against a backdrop of glowing lava met and engaged in fierce combat. The raccoon Pretorious couldn't match Pia's army training - even though the playing field was raised to superpowered brawling - he instead found his advantage in the fact that Pia wasn't as willing and happy to fight to kill as he was. 

Super Silver struggled to fly higher, trying to cross the upper threshold of the whirlwind. He nearly didn't make it, but even as the protective layer of his Super form threatened to be stripped away from him, he managed to cross into the eye of the burning storm, facing down the lava monster from above. He spun around once, then threw himself downwards at extreme speed, pouring all his strength into a Superpowered Psycho Smash attack. 

**"You truly are my nemesis, in every way, shape and form, Pia. Everything I hate, everything I loathe with all my being incarnated in YOU. And like any good nemesis, you JUST! WON'T!! **_**DIE!!!**_**"  
**

Pia looked Pretorious right in the eye. "Shut up," she said, and struck. 

The vortex of flame failed as the creature once called Iblis dissolved in the wake of Super Silver's charge, while at the same time Pia tore through the monster from within, forcibly ejecting the defeated Pretorious. The shockwave of Chaos Emerald energy and following explosion could be seen from far away, if only there was anything left alive in the destroyed world to see... 

- 

The task of reassembling the shattered meteorite took a long time. Silver, Super no more, accepted the job himself, while Pia guarded the de-powered Pretorious. Keeping their long-time enemy sitting peacefully was easier than expected. His spirit seemed lost. He hadn't said a word since his defeat in the distant post-apocalpytic future. 

"What, you're not gonna say anything?" Pia asked when the tense silence became too annoying to stand. 

"What is there left to say?" Pretorious asked, not raising his head. "I lost. All my research for nothing. My quest for understanding destroyed by ignorant children. At least..." Now he looked right at Pia, and grinned horribly. "I had more fun than you two ever will." 

"Yeah, whoop-tee-doo for you, Trevor," said Pia. 

"Trevor? Yes...that is my name. It's been a long time since I've heard anyone else call me that. Aheeheehe. Who knows, with all the changes you two caused in history while pursuing me, I may yet find a future I can appreciate." 

Pia frowned at him, but didn't say anything. That was a point she hadn't considered much. They interfered on Angel Island during the catastrophe. They changed the events of Sonic's adventure in Soleanna. They fought off a Black Arms invasion that was never supposed to happen and revealed the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds to the native tribe earlier than they were supposed to know it. They didn't cause any changes at the pre-Chaos Master Emerald shrine or affect the fate of the Gi civilisation, though, did they? 

There was only one way to find out... 

"Come to think of it, how exactly are you supposed to return to your own time?" Pretorious asked. "Your Super form is depleted, and I clearly heard you state before that your Jumpsuit is ruined." 

"We wait for backup." 

"Backup?" 

"Of course. Just because your time portal couldn't be traced by the Protectorate's chronolog scanners doesn't mean that my Jumpsuit can't be. I'm surprised none of my colleagues caught up with me before now. Although..." Pia looked towards Silver. "I suspect my father had a hand in that. Of course, until the Chaos Core is restored as it was so the Gi can discover it and create the Emeralds, I won't have a future to return to." 

- 

Finally, Silver moved the last fragment into place. Gradually the blackened crystaline interior turned dark green as before. Finally, Silver lowered the huge meteorite back into the hole from whence it came, and filled in the pit with dirt and rocks. 

Not long after, Shadow the Hedgehog arrived, wearing his own hedgehog-fitted Jumpsuit. 

They all went home... 

- 

EPILOGUE: 

Pia stormed into the captain's office, slamming the door behind her. Captain Silver leaned over his desk, and smiled knowingly to his daughter. 

"I want to know right now exactly how much you remember, Dad," Pia demanded. 

The aging hedgehog brushed his mustache, and chuckled. "I remember everything, Pia," he answered. "I even remember stories of events that never happened." 

"What are you talking about?" 

"Do you remember Pretorious's tour of Giozaz?" Silver asked , folding his arms over his chest while leaning back in his leather armchair. 

"Of course." 

"Do you remember what Pretorious said on the first tram ride that made you so angry? Something about 'accidents'?" 

"How dare you? Of course I remember! I'll never forget that, and you shouldn't either since you paid for all that therapy you sent me to after-" 

"What was your therapist's name?" Silver cut. 

"It was- Er... I don't remember, okay? Where the hell are you going with this damn-" 

"Don't swear." 

She shut her mouth. Since when was her father ever able to manage that tone? 

"Relax, Pia," said Silver standing up and walking over to the girl. "This is a new timeline. The past wasn't the only thing we changed when we went after Pretorious. Meeting you, then, helped change me as well. You only just got back from Dr. Pretorious's arrest hearing. You haven't slept since you came back to this time. Most importantly, you haven't let the temporal distortion waves overake you yet, but they will." 

"What...what are you saying?" Pia asked, giving Silver an odd look. 

"I'm saying that right now you should think back to your life as it has been so far. Very soon, you won't remember any of it at all. There was a fire during your second year of high school. You got a little plastic medal from the fire chief for acting fast and helping to put it out. Blaze insisted that we got a frame and everything for that little thing. She doesn't know what might've been, and it's better that she never does. We're having dinner tonight, by the way. A little celebration of tying up loose ends. We both hope you'll come. You know your mother cooks way too much food as it is..." 

"Whoa! Slow down! Are you saying you're not divorced anymore?" 

Silver laughed. "You know, I can remember the things you told me when we were held in that cell by the Gi, but I still have a hard time believing anything like that ever happened. You know Blaze would burn my tail off if I ever did anything to upset her. Still got my tail intact, haven't I?" 

Realisation dawned on Pia. She saw what was different about her father - what'd weighed on her mind but not reached through until just now. "You! Y-your spikes!" she stuttered. "You've got all of them back!" 

"Back?" now it was Silver's turn to look confused. 

"And you're not wearing your GUE uniform! You NEVER walk around bare-bodied. You said that only unappealing attention-seekers ever-" 

Pia stopped when she saw the look on her father's face. Not just the look, but the face itself said enough. Less wrinkles, laughter lines that'd never been there before. If only he lost that silly mustache as well- What was she thinking? This was...all wrong. This wasn't her world; it was all changed. Trying to remember the right past kept getting harder by the second as unfamiliar memories flooded into her mind, displacing familiar events, even painful ones. 

Pia blinked. 

"What were we talking about?" she asked. 

"Nothing important," Silver answered. "Are you coming over for dinner tonight?" 

"Sure. Mom has to teach me how to roast a bird like she does someday. Every time I try it always leaves soot all over the kitchen." 

"I'll try asking her, but you know how she is about giving away secrets," Silver laughed. "Oh, exceptional job capturing Dr. Pretorious, Agent Pia," he added in an authorative voice that was obviously just for show. 

"Thank you, captain!" Pia answered, ripping off a salute. "You know, Pretorious sure talked a lot of nonsense during that whole adventure. I'm surprised you didn't lose your head from confusion back then, Dad." 

"It all depends on who you really listen to," said Silver, putting his arm around his daughter. 

- 

Pretorious looked up at the cold stone walls of his cell. He...didn't feel too well. 

"Ah...ha...a...aha...ahee...hee!" 

"Aheeheehee...hee..." 

"Aheeheeeheeheeheeheehee!!" 

Cold stone walls. 

"I'm bored." 

-

**THE END**


End file.
